


A Trio of Tricksters: Eclipse the Past, Usurp the Future

by The Woman Who Wrote (jesmalestiel)



Series: A Trio of Tricksters [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Asexual Harry Potter, Badass Luna, Bisexual Sirius Black, Character(s) of Color, F/F, F/M, Family, Female Character of Color, Friendship, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Independent Harry Potter, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Female Character of Color, M/M, Multi, Non-binary character, Other, Person of Color Hermione Granger, Platonic Life Partners, Platonic Relationships, Political Alliances, Polyamory, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Trans Characters, badass Hermione
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2018-12-14 16:19:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11786856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jesmalestiel/pseuds/The%20Woman%20Who%20Wrote
Summary: The war ended, and then it didn't. Voldemort is gone but somehow Harry, Hermione and Luna ended up as Undesirables 1, 2 & 3. Sometimes it takes controlling the past to control the future. And they who control the present control the past.WIP, monthly updates





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I am obnoxiously American. I have been England exactly once and I was only there for about 48 hours. Geography was my worst subject in secondary school and I owe all perceived knowledge to bing and google. Thanks very much to my lovely girlfriend, cyborg-goddess, for beta reading this. 
> 
> Author's Note: The idea for this story came about because ever since I was old enough to learn how to delete a search history (and unfortunately a little bit before that as well) I have been obsessed with Harry Potter fanfiction. Being a Comparative Literature major with minors in Classical Studies and Creative Writing, that's a bit taboo. But I love fanfiction, and specifically I love Time Travel Fix-It stories, a tried and true trope. Hermione and Luna are my two favorite characters, as well as my OTP, and frustratingly there are not very many fics that include both of these. That said, this story has been influenced by many a time travel fix-it, namely Faery Heroes by Silently Watches (FFN) and Dodging Prison and Stealing Witches by LeadVonE (FFN & AO3). Hermione Granger and the Serpent's Renaissance by epsi10n (FFN) and The Arithmancer/Lady Archimedes by White Squirrel (FFN) were also major influences. As this story goes on, I'll be making fic recommendations every chapter. The summaries for these four will be at the author's note at the end of the first chapter. This is cross-posted on FFN under the same title and the author name The Woman Who Wrote. Now on with the show!

Everything was going to plan. After reclaiming Grimmauld place, with the consent of Kreacher this time, they had been able to find a hidden ritual room. Harry, never having taken Arithmancy or ancient runes, wasn't very interested. But Hermione, well, Hermione was interested in everything. And when the war started to pick up again, she started looking in earnest.

It all started with the battle of Hogwarts. Or rather, that's when they started to see it. McGonagall ordered that all the Slytherins be put in the dungeon. _Some of them were only eleven years old!_ Hermione fumed to herself, ten years later and still bitter. _Maybe if we hadn't all treated them like scum they wouldn't have done the same to us._ Shaking her head, Hermione refocused on her rune work. She had to get it just so, or it would all be for nothing. _She won't leave me behind, and I won't leave her._ It was the same argument over and over. The ritual called for two travelers and an anchor, and Harry had to go. He was the Chosen one, and they were just loony and the mudblood. Hermione decided to stay behind. _Unless I can fix this. I have to fix this._ Harry was the one to suggest that they go without him, and so really all of them wanted to be the one to stay behind. And none of the others was having it.

Which is why Hermione had been working in the ritual room for so long. It had been two years since they decided to do this, one year since they found something that would work, and six months since they came to this ridiculous stalemate. And all the while there were 'aurors' outside Grimmauld Place. Oh, Voldemort was definitely dead. And so was Kingsley, and McGonagall, and Andromeda, and Teddy, and anyone with the last name Weasley. The three of them were the last ones left and the only person that would have anything to do with them was oddly enough Draco Malfoy; who was the only reason they still had food. Undesirables 1, 2 and 3 meant that they couldn't leave without risking death. Draco snuck them food, and newspapers, and books, but that was about it unless they wanted to go in the muggle world, and even that wasn't safe anymore, now that they tracked magic. The three of them were at each other's throats half the time, and studying the other half.

"I think we should bring in Draco."

Hermione jumped at the voice she hadn't heard behind her. "Harry! Don't do that, do you even know what could happen by scaring someone in a ritual room?"

Acting as if he hadn't heard her, Harry continued. "I know I'm not as smart as you, Hermione, but I took a look at the rune schema. We can send three people as long as there is a fourth anchor. I think we should bring in Draco. And Luna agrees with me."

Hermione paused, and weighed his words. "It would be awfully risky…"

"So is doing this in the first place. We are talking about rewriting a decade of history. That doesn't come without some risk and the longer we wait the harder this is going to be."

Hermione bit her lip. He did have a point about waiting too long. There was only so far they could go back, especially when accounting for the fact that three people was an even larger strain on the timeline. "Give me a night to think it over, and I want to talk to Luna about this myself."

"Hermione -"

"Whether we've been talking recently isn't the point. She's my wife, and we have to talk to each other at some point." Hermione sighed. "I'm not going to get any more work done tonight, and _if_ I agree to this it will require changing a lot of this any way." Hermione stood up and stretched. She had been hunched over for she didn't know how long.

"Thanks Hermione." She made to pass him and he grabbed her arm. "Please Hermione I -"

"I know Harry. I know."

Hermione didn't need to give it as much thought as she expected. Weighing the pros and cons and possibilities as she looked for Luna, it all stopped in her mind as she finally found her, sleeping on one of the armchairs in the library, book almost falling out of her hand. By _God_ she loved this woman, and knew in an instant that she wasn't letting her go for anything. Leaning over, she gently took the book from Luna's limp hands, placing a nearby bookmark inside before placing it on the table. She tucked a stray strand of blonde hair behind Luna's ear and smiled when she shifted in the armchair and slowly opened her eyes.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"I'm sorry," they both said it at the same time and then giggled.

"Harry asked me if -"

"Yes. It will work I looked it over and the wrackspurts are all gone now."

Hermione's smile widened. The creatures she had once scoffed at now became a source of comfort for her.

"Let's do it."

* * *

Things were not as simple as they hoped. Draco was amicable, but not being versed in runes or arithmancy, it took him a while to fully understand the process. Three days before the scheduled time of departure he stumbled into the house at one in the morning, interrupting Harry's sleep and Luna and Hermione's nightly activities. They all rushed down the stairs, anxious and wands ready.

"We have to do it now. They're on to me, they're coming. I don't know how, but they found out."

"We're not ready!" Hermione's mind flew in a hundred different directions before Harry caught her arm and brought her back to reality.

"We have to be."

* * *

Hermione Jean Lovegood woke up to the sound of her mother's voice. "-And don't forget to brush your teeth!" For a moment she was still, before she sat up with a start, her heart beating fast. The last thing she remembered was holding on tightly to the hands of Harry and Luna as the house shook around them, and Draco's face of pained horror as someone behind him shouted _Avada Kedavra._

Taking deep breaths Hermione observed her surroundings. She was in her bedroom at her parents' house. It was with horror that Hermione realized her walls were _blue_. She had them painted the summer after second year. How old _was_ she? This was not the plan. This was not the plan! In the back of her mind she heard Harry's voice _"When have any of our plans_ actually _worked?"_ Smiling at the memory of her friend her heart sped up again as she thought of her brother and her wife, and whether or not they had made it back. Climbing out of bed, Hermione dug through her desk drawer until she found her diary. The last entry was from June 31st, a Tuesday. She never went more than a day or two without writing in it, so it had to be sometime in the beginning of July, probably Friday or Saturday. It felt almost wrong to read it - she was twenty-eight, not 13.

_Dear Diary,_

_We're leaving for France next week, and I wanted to call Harry, but Ron said that Harry's uncle was really angry when he called. I do hope that he didn't do anything to make him angry. I know Harry said his uncle shouts a lot. I don't want to get Harry into more trouble by calling him, but I would like to talk to him before we leave. Owls will have a harder time getting over the border I expect._

_I've been finishing up my muggle work for this term. I've already completed my Hogwarts homework of course, but I was completely behind on my muggle work since they don't really accept petrification as an excused absence from finishing things on time. I believe my parents told them I had a very bad case of pneumonia._

_I've convinced mum and dad to drop me off at Diagon Alley tomorrow; I want to explore more in Flourish and Blotts to see if there are any interesting magic books before we leave the country. Mum and dad said they'll give me a little bit of money, but I can't spend it all on books as I have to make sure I get lunch. Honestly, I know I like reading, but I'm not about to forget to eat._

_-Hermione_

Hermione laughed at her younger self, knowing full well that she had managed to forget to eat many a time while reading a book. That said, she now knew what day it was. And even better, she knew that calling Harry would be a perfectly safe, and indeed the first thing she did upon leaving her room (with the exception of brushing her teeth of course.

* * *

Harry woke to the sound of Hedwig barking. Like lightning he was up and petting her gently through the bars of her cage. His first friend, but not the first, nor the last to give their life for his. _No more._

The phone rang downstairs.

* * *

Luna and her father were sitting on the roof of the rookery. They had watched the sunrise together, but neither bothered to go back inside when it had already been up for so long. She made a slow blink, and suddenly she felt rather more like twenty-seven than twelve.

"Daddy?"

"Yes my moonbeam?"

"Can I go to the alley today? I want to see about meeting some of my friends from school."

"I thought you said they were all infested with wrackspurts?"

"All but two. It took a while, but they managed to shake them off."

"Grab your cloak, we can get breakfast at the Cauldron."

Luna had on a wide smile as they climbed down into the rookery.

What better way to start the day but with a sunrise and sixteen years of memories?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note 2: I made a few big changes to canon. Among them are that Luna travelled with the Golden Trio on the Horcrux hunt, that Harry never dated Cho or Ginny (my Harry is asexual) and that money will actually make something resembling sense. There are other changes too, but they're smaller and I don't want to spoil anything.
> 
> Fic Recomndations:
> 
> Faery Heroes by Silently Watches (FFN)  
> Response to Paladeus's challenge "Champions of Lilith". Harry, Hermione, and Luna get a chance to travel back in time and prevent the hell that England became under Voldemort's rule, and maybe line their pockets while they're at it. Lunar Harmony; plenty of innuendo, dark humor, some bashing included; manipulative!Dumbles; jerk!Snape; bad!Molly, Ron, Ginny
> 
> Dodging Prison and Stealing Witches by LeadVonE (FFN & AO3).  
> Harry Potter has been banged up for ten years in the hellhole brig of Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit, and his traitorous brother, the not-really-boy-who-lived, has royally messed things up. After meeting Fate and Death, Harry is given a second chance to squash Voldemort, dodge a thousand years in prison, and snatch everything his hated brother holds dear. H/Hr/LL/DG/GW.
> 
> Hermione Granger and the Serpent's Renaissance by epsi10n (FFN)  
> They didn't question why Hermione Granger was able to cast every spell in the first class, or why she seemed to know Hogwarts: A History by heart. They never really noticed her resourcefulness, determination or cunning. A Gryffindor meant for Ravenclaw, they called her- and yet...Who would've thought that once upon a time, her name was Salazar? Reincarnation fic
> 
> The Arithmancer/Lady Archimedes by White Squirrel (FFN)  
> The Arithmancer: Hermione grows up as a maths whiz instead of a bookworm and tests into Arithmancy in her first year. With the help of her friends and Professor Vector, she puts her superhuman spellcrafting skills to good use in the fight against Voldemort. Years 1-4. Sequel posted.  
> Lady Archimedes: Sequel to The Arithmancer. Years 5-7. Armed with a N.E.W.T. in Arithmancy after Voldemort's return, Hermione takes spellcrafting to new heights and must push the bounds of magic itself to help Harry defeat his enemy once and for all.


	2. Chapter One: Appearances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I am obnoxiously American. I have been England exactly once and I was only there for about 48 hours. Also geography was my worst subject in school and all my research is via bing and google.
> 
> Note: Small edits on 08/23/3017

After a quick phone call with Hermione, Harry's mind raced as he came up with a plan. Vernon had left early for work, and Dudley was having a lie-in. That meant the only person he would have to deal with was Petunia. _Speak of the devil and he shall appear._

"Who was on the phone, boy?" she snapped as she came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron.

"Just a telemarketer." Harry tried to say as innocently as possible, and ignored her muttered condemnation of the practice. He took the opportunity to dart up the stairs and into his bedroom. Letting Hedwig out of her cage and quickly throwing all of his things into his trunk – _was I really this disgusting when I was 12? –_ he smiled as he realized that he was never going to stay in this hellhole again.

Once everything was packed, Harry used his limited wandless magic to shrink his trunk and Hedwig's cage without triggering the Trace[1] and tossed them in his rucksack. Scanning the room for anything left behind he didn't see anything, with the exception of Hedwig who was perched patiently on the windowsill.

"Hey girl. Why don't you fly on to the Leaky Cauldron? I'll meet you there in a bit." Hedwig gave him a look that clearly said _You'd better_ and flew out and over the houses of Privet Drive.

Harry left the room with a happy sigh, knowing he wouldn't miss it. Luckily his aunt was back in the kitchen, and didn't notice as he took a total £100 out of her purse hanging off the coat rack before leaving out the front door. He walked to the train station, paid his fare, and wished he weren't 12 looking like 10 and having to pretend his was on his way from one parent to another.

* * *

Hermione sat in the corner booth of the Leaky Cauldron, fighting the urge to jump every time one of the doors opened, or someone came through the floo. It was a reflex not just out of wanting to see her brother and wife again, but also borne out of fighting a war and then only seeing the same three people for the past three years. It was enough to make anyone jumpy, and it had been bad enough seeing her parents, whom she had not spoken to in years.

Hermione still felt guilty for what she had done, and would continue to feel that for as long as she lived. It had been pointed out to her that both erasing their memories and giving them back were acts of near murder, and she had to admit they were correct. She would do anything to change that.

Lost in her musings, she didn't notice Luna until she and her father were sitting across from her, jumping up in surprise she banged her thighs on the table and her elbow on the wall. _So much for war-won reflexes._

Luna tilted her head to the side. "A hello would have sufficed, but if you would like to go through with the traditional ceremony now –"

"Luna!" All pain forgotten at the sight of her wife, though she looked disturbingly young at this point, Hermione's smile was wide as she realized that they had all made it back.

"Hermione, this is my father, Xenophilius. Daddy, this is my wife, Hermione." Luna made the introductions promptly and Hermione's eyes widened at her blasé attitude.

"That's funny, I don't remember a wedding. Oh well, nice to meet you Hermione, call me Xeno! Or dad if you prefer."

"It's nice to meet you too Xeno. I think my father might object to the 'dad' bit, but you never know."

Having been married to Luna for five years, Hermione sometimes wondered why she bothered being surprised. She hadn't known Xeno well before he died, trying to escape Malfoy manor with them; where he had been kept in hopes of dragging Luna, and therefore Harry, out of hiding.

"You never know indeed. Where is your other friend then?"

"Over there, trying to be inconspicuous, but he's dressed like even more of a muggle than Hermione. He hasn't seen us yet."

Just then Harry, who had acquired a cap that covered his tell-tale scar, saw them and hurried over. Hermione gave him a bone crushing hug, and Luna had a light smile on her face as she introduced Harry as her brother.

"Well you can also call me dad if you wish. You'll always have a home with us." Harry, touched, but also slightly confused hid it all behind a smile as he exercised what he and Hermione called their Luna-muscles, which had been essential in forming when spending copious amounts of time with someone who made things as simple as breakfast delightfully unusual. They wouldn't have her any other way, but it could be exhausting at times.

* * *

After a pleasant, if a bit strained brunch Xeno waved them away and Harry checked in to a room at the Leaky. Once there Hermione immediately set about casting security charms. The ability to use magic in high-density areas was about the worst-kept secret in the wizarding world and she was determined to take advantage of it.

Once she had completed her task she enthusiastically hugged them both and then flopped onto the bed. "We made it! We honest to goodness made it! It's 1993!" she devolved into manic giggles and it wasn't long before all three of them were getting stomach cramps from the ferocity of laughter that comes from evading death by a hair's length.

* * *

Once they finally calmed, the trio lay quietly for a moment before Luna spoke up.

"So, we're a little far from our goal, but not terrible. I do wish we had managed that extra year. I hate that Ginny had to go through that."

"Second year would have been ideal, but there's not much we can do about it now, and we're still early enough that most of our plan will still work." Harry reasoned.

"And you have time to change your electives," Hermione added slyly.

"Ugh, divination, don't remind me."

"Don't remind you? I still have to take it."

"Why would you waste your time with that class?"

"Because _time_ remember?"

Harry's mouth fell open. "How in the name of Merlin did I forget about the time turner?"

Luna patted him gently on the head. "We'll get there. In the meantime: shopping."

"Ugh, Luna, you know I hate shopping," Hermione groaned.

"I will happily shop if it means that I'm not cooped up in a house with –" at the sight of a raised eyebrow each Harry continued "my two best friends with whom I love spending time but who I think are probably sick of me?"

"I'd feel better if that wasn't a question." Hermione was unimpressed, but paced back and forth in front of the only window in the room, which overlooked the North Side of Diagon Alley.

"Okay, if you're going to make me go shopping, we'll need the most detailed list possible so that we can go about this correctly. I remember that we made one before, and I wrote it down as I remembered in my diary," she gestured at her rucksack, which she had tossed near the pillows in her near hysteria earlier. "But we might have to re-evaluate in order to account for me being in France…"

Harry's eyes started to glaze over as Luna dutifully pulled out the diary, bypassed the charms to keep anyone but Hermione and herself from reading it, and crossed out or added things as needed.

"…We'll definitely still need to investigate the junk shop…"

"…Luna can probably brew the aging potions while I'm gone, Harry you'll just have to deal with the cherry flavor…"

At the sound of his name Harry blinked and refocused, but she was still talking too fast.

"…I suppose we'll leave the Hogwarts robes for when we come back with the Weasleys…"

"…Is that okay with you Harry?"

"Of course." Harry paused. "What did I just agree to?"

"You agreed to watch Crookshanks while Hermione is in France. Going to the City of Love without your wife? Bad form darling."

Harry feigned upset, but he had missed the old half-kneazle. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Luna, do you have the individual –" Hermione smiled as Luna handed her and Harry each a separate list of items. "Right, Gringotts first yeah?"

* * *

It wasn't long after getting to Gringotts that Harry was able to see a Goblin about settling his accounts. He had just over ʛ 4,046 ($497,648 USD 2017), which wasn't insignificant, but he would have to be careful not to spend it all as he made several large investments. Since Gringotts didn't have any restrictions as long as someone had the key, it was fairly simple to get what they needed. The hard part was the actual shopping.

The trio set off first to Madam Malkin's, where they assured her that they weren't looking for Hogwarts robes quite yet, but more casual ones to be worn in the summer and on weekends at Hogwarts. Harry got a complete wardrobe change, while Hermione got fitted for only a few things; the two both had sour looks on their faces as Luna tried to hide her giggles at their predicament. After the shop assistants finally released them Harry paid for both of them before they donned some of the new robes and left the rest to be finished and picked up later that day. After some ice cream at Fortescue's, the three split up.

* * *

Hermione didn't like shopping, but she understood the need for it. She supposed it was born out of the war; back then in the future, they were being picked off like flies every time they so much as poked their heads out of hiding to get a piece of bread. She headed over to Carkitt Market, towards the Apothecary. Having already cross-checked the potions ingredients that she, Harry and Luna had combined, there were only a few things left that they didn't already have in order to create the aging potion. The ingredients for that were distinctive; but luckily, they overlapped with a boil cure and pepper-up in various places, and although the shopkeeper eyed her shrewdly she was able to pass it off as running an errand for her mother.

Her next stop was to head back to the north side of the alley and Flourish and Blotts, which, contrary to popular belief, was not a black hole into which Hermione would forever disappear. She purchased a number of books on household charms, as well as used their student program to buy discounted subscriptions to _Teen Witch Weekly_ , _The Practical Potioneer_ , _Transfiguration Today_ , and, of course _The Daily Prophet_. She would have purchased a subscription to _The Quibbler_ but Luna insisted that they not waste Harry's money on something she could get them for free.

Meanwhile, while Hermione was perusing periodicals, Harry and Luna made their way over to the junk shop. They didn't find much, but Luna was able to unearth a set of 7 wand holsters, which were defective in that the invisibility function was faulty. It was something that warranted a discount, but also something that Hermione could fix easily. They also examined a number of wands, all of which has sustained some form of damage, but a few less so than others. Their most important find however, was a beat up old trunk, that, despite its age and superficial wear, was actually in good condition. They also purchased a variety of furniture, which was all shrunk down and put in their shopping bags. The bored sales assistant rang them up without paying very much attention, and they got the lot of it for two galleons and three sickles (~$267.71 USD 2017).

Upon reuniting at the Cauldron, they hurried up to Harry's rented room, and Hermione recreated the privacy wards. They still had about three hours until Hermione's parents were picking her up for them all to go out for dinner; and Xeno had told Luna she could stay over with either Harry or Hermione for the night, as long as she sent him an owl telling him which.

Once Hermione was done with the wards, she promptly resized all of their trunks and emptied them out onto the bed. "Okay, Luna, you start with brewing the aging potion, and Harry, you start sorting out all of our belongings. We only really need four piles; books, writing supplies, clothes, potions and miscellaneous. Make sure you get out the potions stuff first, so that Luna can get settled faster. That potion takes two hours to brew and we only have three. I'll start enchanting our trunks."

Hermione had always been an organizational force, and so the three of them quickly got to work.

Most wizards who wanted expanded space went to Wiseacre's, where they could spend a fortune on an expanded trunk. They were the only place in the alley licensed to use extension charms. Hermione, however, was not the brightest witch of her age for nothing, and had lost her respect for laws and authority somewhere in between getting attacked by a troll and breaking into Gringotts; although it only truly died when Harry did, convinced by Dumbledore that it was the only way to defeat Voldemort. The fact that the ministry had started actively hunting them down a mere five years after they won against that particular Dark Lord was just extra decorations on a cake that had already been iced.

Half an hour before Hermione had to leave, all of their rucksacks had been charmed with undetectable extension charms. The trunks, however, were Hermione's masterpiece. Having lived in tents with nothing to do but starve, read and frustrate each other while on the Horcrux hunt, Hermione spent a fair bit of time examining the charms and runes that allowed them to work. Replicating these on their school trunks was child's play, adjusting the muggle-worthy feature to contain all of their school equipment, while the real magic was inside of them. The hardest part was her adjustment of setting up a shell floo network that connected them. Harry's had a sofa bed, three arm chairs, a side bathroom, a kitchenette, and, of course a fireplace. Hermione's was lined with bookshelves, including the mantle above the fireplace, and was set up as an office, with two additional comfy chairs, which could each recline into a bed. This room also had a bathroom off to the side. Luna's trunk was a bedroom, with a corner dedicated to her large bed, covered in pillows that seemed more like a nest than a bed. The fireplace was decorated with carvings of different creatures, and she had two side rooms; a bathroom, and a potions laboratory. The fourth trunk was left with Harry, and contained a large dining room table, a bar area, which was empty at the moment as people won't sell alcohol to twelve-year-old.

At the end of it all Hermione was exhausted, and after Luna finished bottling up the potions and doling them out four doses each she sent an owl to her father letting him know that she was with Hermione and took it upon herself to greet the Grangers, waving a cheery goodbye to Harry as they returned to the muggle world.

* * *

As Luna and Hermione exited the Leaky Cauldron, they saw her parents parked across the street. Hermione willed herself awake from where she had been half asleep on Luna's shoulder and waved before they crossed the street.

"Hermione, you didn't tell us you were bringing a friend!" Keith Granger called out of the passenger window cheerfully.

"Sorry daddy; I would have, but I didn't know I was going to run in to Luna today. She happened to be in the Leaky Cauldron this morning having breakfast with her father when Harry and I ran into her. Since he bought us breakfast I figured we could take Luna to dinner with us. Is that okay? I would have called first but phones don't work around magic very well."

"That's perfectly alright darling, why don't you both climb on in?" Kathryn was a woman who believed one good turn deserved another, and was a large part of why Hermione was the way she was, at least until the wizarding world skewed her moral compass.

Luna was humming as they climbed in, and Keith turned around to look at them as Kathryn started heading towards Crawley. "So, Luna was it? You can call me Keith. And this is my wife, Kate. Are you in Hermione's year? She hasn't mentioned you before."

"Oh no, I'm not in the same year as her and Harry. I'm actually a year below them, in Ravenclaw. We didn't meet until the end of the semester. It was kind of like fate really. The nargles had stolen my shoes and I was locked out of the common room."

"That's awful!" Keith exclaimed, before he paused and asked, "What are nargles?"

Luna beamed. They were going to get along famously.

* * *

When a strange, exciting, or scary event happens, one tends to run on adrenaline. Once that event is over though, that's when the crash happens.

After Hermione and Luna left to spend time with Hermione's parents, well, that was when Harry crashed.

They had been planning this for months, years really. He had expected to go to the past. He had expected having to deal with the Dursleys and an annoying amount of shopping and sorting through his possessions and doing it all with Hermione and Luna, who had been his anchors for years now. But now that he was actually _here._ He was here in the body of a scrawny twelve-year-old and he was alone in the crowd that was the Leaky Cauldron. Walking downstairs, making sure to keep his scar hidden, Harry had to fight the urge to hex someone that brushed past him on the stairwell.

Doing his best to keep his breaths even he made his way downstairs, and winced when the sound of the large crowd that decided to treat themselves by having dinner at the Leaky that night. Stomach churning, and starting to feel dizzy, Harry abruptly turned and started on the way back to him room. He took deep and calming breaths, and once he got back to his room he immediately set about casting the protective charms.

Once he had made the place secure in a way only someone with a ʛ 10,000 price tag on their head could, he let his back slide against the door until he was sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs. Then he finally let himself cry. He wasn't sure if they were tears of sadness for all he had lost, happiness for all he had regained, fear for what was truly at stake, or just the blind panic of the situation. _You're twenty-seven years old, get your act together._ But Harry _wasn't_ twenty-seven. Harry was twelve again, with his emotions all over the place, and so he simply let himself cry. Large wrecking sobs that made it hard to breathe. After he didn't know how long, his breathing evened out, and, exhausted, Harry fell into what was a blissfully dreamless sleep.

* * *

As Luna chatted with Hermione's parents, with whom she was indeed getting along with famously, Hermione was marveling at both how amazing Luna was, and how lucky Hermione was to have her. She honestly didn't know if she could have done this without Luna. Seeing her mum that morning had nearly upended her psyche, until she did what she does best: compartmentalize and shove her emotions to the back of her mind. Seeing her parents again, without the anger and fear that they had regarded her with ever since she had given them back their memories, Hermione was overwhelmed. The only thing that was stopping Hermione from falling apart at that moment was watching Luna's interactions with her parents.

Seeming to sense her distress, Luna took Hermione's hand in hers, all the while appearing to give Keith her complete attention.

"So the magical world doesn't have _any_ dentists?" Keith asked, incredulous.

"Not really. The mouth cleaning charm is one of the first we're ever taught. Personally, my teeth feel much cleaner after I've brushed, but technically the spell removes more plaque and malicious bacteria, so I suppose the spell is technically more effective. Spells for fixing crooked or overly large teeth are also something that is thought of as basic healing, which used to be an elective at Hogwarts until the war. As such a fair few of us magicalborn have parents who can cast the charms safely."

Luna continued on, but Hermione was still lost in thought. The next thing she knew, they were at the restaurant and Luna had moved on from teeth to spell creation.

"But _why_ are so many of these things from Latin or these ancient runes you keep mentioning? What about these words or symbols give power?" Kate asked as she cut into her steak.

Luna held up a finger, as she was chewing at the time, before swallowing and taking a sip of water. After doing so, she launched into her explanation. "The majority of spells that we have were created a long time ago. Since wizards perfected the preservation spell over three thousand years ago, we have access to much more of our history than muggles do. For example, I assume you have heard of the library of Alexandria?" at receiving their nods Luna continued. "What if I told you that it _wasn't_ burned to the ground?" at their wide eyes Luna smiled. "Indeed, the wizarding world hid the library, and made it only appear as if it was destroyed. In the 20th century, muggles are finally catching up to us, and I'm sure that in the next ten to twenty years you'll probably even pass us, and I think that by the mid twenty-first century the magical world won't stay hidden if it doesn't keep up. Now that is something that scares the living daylights out of the magicalborn, or it would if they had any sense. As it stands many magicalborn underestimate the muggle world, and I suspect it will be their downfall." Hermione shot Luna one of her _slow down_ looks as Keith opened his mouth to respond, but Kate beat her two it.

"Are you _sure_ you're twelve?" she asked shrewdly.

Luna gave a light blush, but still gave a mischievous smile "I was born February 13, 1981, if that's what you're asking." Hermione's parents laughed, and Hermione fought a smile as Luna winked at her.

When the check came Keith turned to Hermione and Luna as Kate settled everything with the waiter.

"So our guest room is currently being repainted, so you're welcome to stay the night Luna, but it will have to be in Hermione's room. I'll be able to dig out a camp bed from the basement I think."

"No need to do that papa. We can just share my bed. I won the bet remember?" Hermione's eyes twinkled as Keith groaned.

"What's this about a bet?" Luna asked, bemused.

"My daughter and my wife conspired against me," Keith recounted dramatically.

"What he means is that he and Hermione had a bet about whether I could go a week without setting something on fire in the kitchen. If I did, Hermione had to continue her piano lessons. If I didn't, he had to buy Hermione a queen-sized bed."

"I take it you didn't set anything on fire?" Luna asked.

"No," Kate paused. "Hermione promised to take French lessons if I agreed not to cook for a week."

* * *

That night, as Hermione was just about to fall asleep she heard Luna sniffling. Hermione sighed. "It's been a long day, hasn't it my love?"

"Sixteen years is a long time to live in fear. There was always something. Now that we're back in peace time, or at least what passes for it…"

"You did well today. We all did, it's hard but," Hermione sighed again. "We're here. We're alive, we'll make it through this."

"I know," Luna paused, then said guiltily. "We shouldn't have left Harry by himself."

"I know. I didn't have any idea what to tell my parents though. They think I'm thirteen, just starting in on the wonders of puberty. They'd probably think I had a crush on him or something." Hermione made a face. She was frustrated, and no longer sleepy. She tried to sit up, but Luna pushed her back down onto the bed and snuggled into her side.

"I'll go back to the Cauldron tomorrow morning and take Harry with me back to the rookery. We'll be able to get through this. I would have stayed with him tonight, but you're going to France, and Harry and I will be here together all summer. Maybe it's selfish, but I wanted to spend time without before you left. I'm going to miss you." Luna traced patterns on Hermione's arm, in a manner that was somehow both absentminded and nervous. Rather unconsciously, she did so in the place where she would never let a madwoman carve the word mudblood.

Hermione tucked the loose strands of Luna's dirty blonde hair behind her ear. "I'll be just a floo call away. We'll still see each other at least a little bit."

"I know. But still," Luna sighed unhappily. "Did you put a silencing barrier up?"

"Of course I did, what do you take me for?" Hermione sniffed.

"I know I didn't need to ask. I don't think either of us would want your parents to hear us if we have nightmares."

"Exactly. I enchanted my pillowcase while we were still in Diagon alley. It creates a 5 meter silenced bubble, so as long as we stay on the bed it's," Hermione yawned "safe."

"Alright, I think it's time for both of us to sleep. You'll need to back tomorrow and I need to get to the Cauldron early to settle things with Harry. Goodnight darling."

"Good night my love."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 08/23/2017  
> [1] I was going on the assumption that they noticed Marge getting blown up not because of accidental magic, but because there was a screaming inflated woman floating around Surrey, and to be honest it was probably Mrs. Figg that called them, but since it won't happen now I guess it doesn't matter. I am also going on the assumption that the trace doesn't count wandless magic since without a wand they cannot test. That doesn't make concrete sense though, so I'm adding on with an excerpt from a comment response on AO3: "[accidental magic is] a super broad topic that I'm going to hopefully get to touch on at a later date, but the basic gist of it as I'm going with right now is that what Dobby did was intentional and big, he put a lot of force into the spell. When Harry shrunk the trunks he was purposefully emitting a very small amount of magic. In my wizarding world, every witch or wizard lets out low levels of magic just by existing, almost like magical pheromones. What Harry did was within the normal levels and not worth ministry notice. They only do notice when there is a large amount of magical activity, or something and/or muggles notice, like with aunt Marge."
> 
> Apologizes for including a shopping scene, I tried to make it brief.  
> I'm struggling a bit with Harry's development since in the original draft of this story it was only Luna and Hermione who went back. So who they are and what they do is more figured out on my end. I wanted to make sure that I got something out on time, so I promise that Harry gets fleshed out more next chapter, but the scenes with him that I do have just don't fit in the chapter. Chapter 2 on the other hand, is looking to be fairly Harry-centric.
> 
> Edits 08/23/2017: Additional edits are that there are some small mistakes based on grammar and comments on the version published on AO3.
> 
> Also I forgot the fic recommendation for this chapter, which is Dahlia Evans & the Broken Bridge by Forensica X, which can be found on FFN. Summary: "Assumed dead, the last Potter grows up an orphan until she finds a home with the Grangers. The family explores magic together, but not all is wonder and enchantment. A killer stalks the streets of Crawley, and the Dark Lord isn't as gone as everyone thinks. Fem!Harry/Hermione. POC!Hermione. Slytherin!Hermione. Grey!Dumbledore. Violence & Suggestive Themes."
> 
> As a bonus for those of you who like Doctor Who I recommend Not Not-Human and its sequel All Hail the Time Lord's Son, also written by Forensica X and also on FFN. Basic premise is that the Alternate Universe that contains Ten-2 and Rose is also an AU of the Harry Potter Universe and the two of them raise Harry. It's a good story and I highly recommend.


	3. Chapter Two: Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter and I am obnoxiously American. I have been England exactly once and I was only there for about 48 hours. Geography was my worst subject in school and all my research is via bing and google. Thanks to my girlfriend, cyborg_goddess for beta reading this story.
> 
>  **Author's Note:** I'm moving tomorrow, so y'all get this chapter a day early :)

**Chapter Two: Conversations**

Harry blinked as his eyes were exposed to a vicious amount of sunlight.

"Wake up sleepyhead, we have stuff to get done!" The sunlight was temporarily blocked by a twelve-year-old Luna Lovegood in an eye-wateringly yellow dress, long blonde hair being held back by a flower crown made out of daises. The blocked sunlight created an almost glow around her. She wore no shoes.

"Luna, what, how did you even get in here?" he groaned, stretching as he stood up. Well, it was his own fault for falling asleep on the floor. A fact that Luna soon made clear.

"Harry Potter, you had a perfectly good bed, I expected you to use it. After I went through all the trouble to make sure it wasn't infected by snarling whippersnappers," she shook her head sadly and Harry snickered. She sniffed at him and he winked at her.

"What's on the agenda today my little moon?"

"Well, I would say we should go shopping…" she said thoughtfully. Harry groaned again – though out of emotional distress rather than physical – and she continued. "But think what we _should_ do is go to the river near the rookery and catch some plimpys so that I can make soup." Harry blinked.

"Shouldn't we be working on our plan? As much as I hate shopping we do have to research the materials available in this time, and work on finding places to rent, and…" Harry went on what was quite frankly a Hermione-esque rant, to which Luna appeared anything but interested, and when he finally ran out of steam, Luna patted him gently on the head before starting to pull clothes out of Harry's trunk.

"Now that's all very well and good, but you, Harry Potter, need to relax." She flung a shirt at him. "You've got a series of wrackspurts trying to infest you and I just won't have that." He got smacked in the face by underwear "Now, go take a shower and get dressed." He was wacked in the face with a towel. "We're going to floo over to my house and get some breakfast, and then take a walk down to the river and catch some plimpys." She took a pile of robes into her right hand before taking his arm in a gentle yet forceful grip with her left and pushing him into the bathroom.

Knowing it was best to just do what she said, Harry sighed and started to get ready for the day.

* * *

After eating 3 every-flavor pancakes each (and wasn't _that_ a wild ride) Harry and Luna wandered down to the river with what Luna assured him were fishing rods, much to Harry's disbelief. Settling down onto the bank, Harry sat awkwardly, holding his 'fishing rod' while Luna hummed a tune.

After ten minutes of this, Harry finally spoke. "Aren't you going to ask me about it?"

Luna paused in her humming. "Do you want me to?" As she resumed, Harry ran a clenched hand through his hair.

"I don't know how you can stand it! They're all dead! Except now-"

"They're still dead." Luna's words had a terrible weight to them, something uncharacteristic for her normal dreamy self.

"What?" Harry was startled.

"You know what I mean. You don't want to say it, but you do. Our Ron threw himself on front of a killing curse for Hermione, thought Hannah Abbott was the center of the universe, and hated rats. And here, Ron still sleeps in the same bed as Scabbers and barely acknowledges that Hermione is a girl, let alone pays attention to the Hufflepuffs. The Draco Malfoy of this world runs to his father for everything, and it is highly unlikely that he would risk his life for anyone, let alone take dark curses to the back in order to create a better future for us blood traitors. I could go on but -" Luna's voice was trembling, and Harry gently set aside her things before pulling her into a hug.

"I understand. We'll make it through this, Luna, all of us. And it won't be the same, but that's okay. It'll be okay," Harry murmured into her hair, as she leaned in to him.

"Are you trying to convince me or convince yourself?" Luna asked lightly.

"I don't think those two things are mutually exclusive."

* * *

After catching what Luna deemed to be an acceptable amount of plimpys, she and Harry retired to the kitchen of the rookery, where Luna got started and Harry, who was wary of cooking them 'wrong' as he had no idea what constituted as 'right', decided to work on the list that Hermione had created while nibbling at a dirigible plum tart.

Luna insisted that in order for the creation of plans to be as dynamic as possible they needed to first make sure that they were as open minded as possible while creating them. Since her judgment and her baking were more or less sound, he decided to go for it.

"So, seats on the Wizengamot are hereditary, but some are elected? This makes such a large amount of no sense that I can't help but want to change it. Just because someone's ancestor was picked by the citizens years ago doesn't mean they aren't terrible. Heck, their ancestor was probably terrible too, but what money can buy…" Harry mused. Luna hummed and Harry scratched the back of his head. "Well, none of us have seats, because the line of succession broke. Those got snatched up real quick. Plus all that legislation so that now the minister is the one who elects the seats, not the citizens, who can't really pick him either… politics aren't even my thing, so why are we doing this again?" groaning in faux-defeat Harry slumped in his chair.

"We are doing this to stop the fascist pigs who control our country want to kill us all and put us in camps or just kill us outright. _We_ might not be well-versed in politics but that doesn't mean that we can't learn. And we'll have to if we stand any chance of reforming society, never mind Voldemort. We've got to see things through, and hopefully get him over and done with by 1997. Given everything that went down in 2007, what 2017 had in store for us doesn't bear thinking about. Hence the time travel."

How Luna managed a tone that was both clipped and sing-songy Harry would never know. Nevertheless he took off his glasses and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Luna, you know I didn't mean that literally."

"Then why did you say it?" She didn't even try to sound innocent, and Harry probably would have found this insulting if he didn't know Luna quite well/had already eaten two tarts. "Besides, let's not talk politics at the moment, _you_ have a letter to write." She looked at him, one hand on hip, the other waving a ladle. "We can talk politics once we have Hermione back here. In the meantime, we have to build up a rapport in Diagon Alley. I presume you saw the storefront?"

"Of course I did." Harry snorted. "The lack of WWW was hard to miss."

"Well, they always were a bit loud." Luna pursed her lips before adding wistfully "Draco did say the alley was dismal without it."

"Draco said a lot of things about the alley. Is it bad that I'm glad I never saw it?" Harry twisted his thumbs in an absentminded and nervous gesture.

"Depends. Are you glad you had a ʛ10,000 price on your head?"

"Are you kidding?" Harry scoffed. "I was so jealous. If I could've turned myself in I also could've tripled my vault."

"True. I would have done it ages ago if I wasn't wanted for ʛ5,000 myself." Luna replied airily before they both descended into giggles.

As their laughter subsided the two friends resumed focus. "Have we decided on a first endeavor then? I know we were considering the library but –" Harry started, but Luna cut him off.

"Books cost money. And it's not as though the old families will be offering up their personal tomes, ourselves included."

"True. And yet it's an untapped market. The Hogwarts library is the only thing that compares," Harry sighed. "And once your seven years are up, good luck getting into the library again."

"Knowledge is power, Harry. You've been in the wizarding world long enough now to know that," Luna hummed as she added something to the soup that made Harry's nose wrinkle.

"I think that's something that holds in the muggle world too, love." Harry ruffled his hair again, and yet again it seemed to defy logic in its ability to get even more messy than it had been before.

"Apples and oranges." Luna hummed as she adjusted the spell to chop various ingredients.

"What we need to do," Harry leaned back in his chair, "is create an advantage. Now the library is at the kiddie table for now, but we still know what the world will be capable of. Now that's all very well and good, knowing politics and war planning, but if we want to tap the market, we'll have to introduce something innovative. It's old hat, but I think we may just have to go muggle."

"Say what you want about them, but they're both fruits." Luna shrugged, tossing the slices into the soup.

* * *

"Hermione Jean Granger, _what_ do you think you are doing?" Kate Granger stood in her daughter's doorway, hands on hips and eyebrow raised. But Hermione Granger wasn't a person anymore.

Or at least that's how the person the world called Hermione Granger _felt_. Which is why hearing her mother call her full name was such a shock.

She looked up at her mother from the floor, where she had been lying on her stomach and writing down everything she could remember about her seventh year at Hogwarts. In an effort to make sure that none of them forgot anything the trio had decided to record a notebook each for every year in their past /future, with a promise to swap notes. Hermione wanted to get it finished before she left the country because, while she did trust her own magical prowess, travelling internationally with a shell network was risky and she wasn't going to trust an owl with books like these. If they fell into the wrong hands….

"Did you hear _anything_ I just said?" Kate tapped her foot impatiently.

"Uh, no?" Hermione replied irritably before realizing where she was and who she was talking to.

"Dear Lord, you are a teenager. Clean up for dinner and then I want you straight back up here and _packing._ We're leaving for France _tomorrow_ and I let you spend time with your friends yesterday, but I expected you to get more done _today_ instead which you _haven't_." Kate pulled Hermione up off the floor and tried to grab the notebook as well, but it zapped her. "Ouch! What was that?"

"Sorry! So sorry, it's a diary jinx," Hermione apologized profusely, picking up the notebook and clutching it in her arms. "There's this girl in my year, Lavender, think I told you, she's _awful_ and a complete gossip and I didn't want her snooping in my things – " Hermione continued as Kate looked on, amused before finally holding a hand over her daughter's mouth.

"It's fine darling, I was only startled. I might be a muggle, but I understand nosy roommates." Kate laughed. "Now get ready for dinner." She made a shooing motion and Hermione tossed the notebook on her bed before rushing off to the bathroom.

* * *

Harry was lounging on an armchair in the living room, playing with a spare snitch he had found in the junk shop. It was defective of course – the thing moved much more slowly than a regular snitch – but nevertheless he enjoyed letting it go and catching it again. Being 12 again was much more stressful than he had thought it would be. Not that he had expected time travel to be a walk in the park, but still.

Talking about their plans as budding entrepreneurs had caused Harry's mind to wander to the Weasleys, and what to do about a certain rat. He had believed himself to have overcome the complicated emotions surrounding Peter Pettigrew, but being back in the past brought it all back in harsh belief.

His late teens and early twenties had seen him working with Healer Matthews, a kind witch from the States who served as his rock in the sea of emotions that was Harry Potter and all of the young war heroes. He knew that Ron, Hermione, Luna and many others also sought the help of mind healers and muggle psychologists, and some, like Harry, worked with someone who practiced both. The sheer number of traumatized children – because that's what they were, children – resulting from the war meant that some people inevitably worked with more than one of them.

Harry knew that Healer Matthews, or Paige, as she preferred he call her, had also worked with Hermione and Luna. There had been a few times that the three of them had joint sessions. They tried to get Ron to come with them, but the proud boy refused to accept any charity, and was convinced that he needed no help to process the outcome of the war and the death of his brother.

The second youngest of the Weasleys instead sought his solace from a bottle, and the three of them, along with the rest of the Weasleys watched with growing desperation at not knowing how to help their friend.

" _I don – hic – need to see no shrink," Ron slurred, before letting out a large belch._

" _Just look at yourself Ronald!" Hermione shrieked in frustration. "You are a complete_ mess, _do you think that's what Fred would have wanted?"_

" _Shut up 'Mione! Wha would you know? I'm – hic – fine! Don – don talk about – hic – my broth, brother li'e that!"_ _Ron finally stumbled into the chair successfully and plopped down into it._

 _Hermione took in a deep breath, "_ Please _Ron, I'm begging you, don't do this. Don't you know what this is doing to all of us? We can't bear to see you like this!" When she turned around to address him again, her face fell to see him asleep. She burst into tears and Harry, who had been observing quietly, drew her into his arms and gave a small nod to Luna, who had just entered the room to investigate. With a sigh Luna swished her wand and levitated a drooling Ron out of the room, and presumably to one of Grimmauld's many guest rooms._

"You're collecting flippering margies."

Harry started out of his memories and realized that his slow snitch had made its way across the room and into the hands of a twelve-year-old Luna Lovegood.

"I was thinking."

"Oh?" Luna let the snitch go, and it floated back towards Harry.

"Weasleys. Ron mostly. How he was before Hannah knocked some sense into him. Merlin, he's only thirteen now. Swears like a sailor, but at least he doesn't drink like one." Harry pinched the bridge of his nose again as he snatched the snitch out of the air with his other hand. "But also about Pettigrew. I thought I had worked it all out –"

"If this were easy we wouldn't have done it," Luna told him softly, crossing the room and taking Harry's snitch-free hand.

"It's not even that I'm that angry. It's that I'm not, I feel – I don't know what I feel. But it's not enough. The force isn't there. He did so much wrong but –"

"You're too well adjusted and your preteen body doesn't like that. It's only natural to feel anger, Harry, but you've already mourned, already fought," she gently took his other hand and clasped them both in hers, thee snitch in the center. "It's okay to be confused."

"How are you always so calm?" Harry breathed out in not-so-faux frustration.

"I'm married to Hermione and you're my brother." Luna hummed, before dropping his hands. "At least one of us has to keep things from blowing up."

* * *

France, Hermione decided, was not all it was cracked up to be. Maybe it was because she had been there before, and she knew everything about where they were going to go. Maybe it was because she was cynical in her old age and bitter about the lack of assistance and the way the government had ignored all pleas for help when things started to get murky in the political arena. Maybe it was because it reminded her of Fleur, who had frustrated her to pieces right up until she had asked Hermione to be a godmother and made Hermione realize that the other woman thought her a genuine friend.

Shaking her head to clear it of memories from a future that would never be, Hermione finished wrapping her hair for the night and sought out her parents, who were sitting on the couch in the center of the living room of the flat they had rented for the next month. Well, her mother was sitting. He father was laying down, taking up as much of the couch as possible, his head in Kate's lap, while she tangled her fingers through his hair with her left hand, and flipped through channels with the remote in her right.

Throwing herself into an armchair she addressed them. "So, what are we watching?" Her mother turned the sound off as she turned towards Hermione.

"Well, we were looking through the channels, but our French isn't very good –" Keith started, sitting up.

"Which is why we're here. And it's _your_ French that isn't very good. Mine is perfectly reasonable." Kate sniffed, but she was smiling. "And Hermione, no slacking, I want you to practice too."

"Je peux parler français, c'est Papa qui ne parle pas français, ne me regarde pas."[1] Hermione muttered.

"Traitor! Kate, that's not fair, she got good at French when I wasn't paying attention!" Keith feigned outrage. "Do they have a language learning program at Hogwarts that you didn't tell us about?"

"Nah, but Luna speaks it from her mother, and we've been practicing together. That's part of why I didn't tell you about her. I wanted to keep it a surprise for when we got here. Didn't you notice at the airport?" Hermione did her best to sound both innocent and indifferent, as though it was a passing thought.

Her mother insisted on testing her, and her father decided to investigate the kitchen to see what groceries they needed to buy. There was no use in wasting money by going out to eat every night.

* * *

Everyone knows that Hermione Lovegood neé Granger is an organizational powerhouse. What they _don't_ know is that so is her wife. To the outside viewer, Hermione might seem like the sensible one, the grounding one. But the thing about their relationship, and about healthy relationships in general, was that there was a give and take between the two of them. Yes, Luna could sometimes be a little spacey, and Hermione had to sometimes bring her focus into the reality they currently faced.

Yet it was Hermione who hyper focused and panicked and needed Luna to remind her of the here and now. Luna was a cheerful, thoughtful, and happy person in general, no matter what life threw at her, whereas Hermione could sometimes draw into herself. It was Luna who kept things in check, and who had a mind for multitasking that blew Hermione's out of the water.

While her wife worked out having parents who didn't hate her again, but unfortunately thought of her as a child, and while Harry went over his finances and the current state of muggle technology, Luna looked at notebooks. Carefully, she went year by year, deciphering Harry's messy scrawl and Hermione's elegant cursive, as well as her own writing that looked a lot like what the muggles would come to call comic sans in a few years' time. Cross-referencing would be much easier with a computer, but then again, as much as she had absorbed muggle culture from her wife, she had never had her or Harry's touch with computers until _after_ they had been converted to work on magic.

She had of course heard Hermione and Harry's perspectives on their Hogwarts years, but it felt different in the diary format that Hermione had insisted on. It was amazing to her that knowing them as well as she did, there was still more to learn. She had no reason to know, for instance, that Ron had suffered nightmares about spiders for weeks after they all confronted the boggart.

As she was deep in Hermione-mode as they called it, Harry actually was able to sneak up on her, or rather, lay down on her bed flipping through a Spanish phrase book for about 20 minutes before she finally noticed him.

"Was there something you wanted, Harry Potter?" Luna asked when she finally took notice of him trying to replicate the sound of an ñ, something that he still had trouble with for all his being able to speak parseltongue. He closed the book before tossing it on the floor carelessly.

"Not really. But it's half past three and I thought you wanted to head over to the law office tomorrow. You should really get some –" he yawned "sleep."

"I somehow don't think I'm the only –" she also yawned "one. Yawns are contagious Harry, you should know better than to let one in the room." She placed a quill in the notebook she had been writing in to mark the spot and got up, stretching as she did so. "Budge over. You're taking up too much of the bed."

Harry moved obligingly and Luna climbed up. "I demand cuddles," She told him in a manner that allowed for no argument.

"You don't have to demand them you know," he told her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, but you're a preteen again." She made a face "and so am I. We have to get you all caught up on your cuddle training again."

Harry rolled his eyes and gestured for her to come over to him. "At least this way you steal less of the covers."

"You know that's actually the nargles Harry." Luna sniffed. "They seem to have it out for you."

"I'm sure," Harry rolled his eyes before flicking his wrist to turn out the light. "Goodnight Luna."

"Goodnight Harry."

* * *

Elizabeth Mirkwood was not sure what she was expecting when her secretary told her that there was a young couple waiting for her without an appointment, but since she had no scheduled clients for the afternoon, she decided she might as well see them.

They were a pretty pair, though they appeared more like siblings than a couple. The woman was about average height, skinny, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. The man with her was only an inch or so taller, and slightly heavy set. His hair was dark as well, and his eyes were the same dark blue.

"Ms. Mirkwood I presume?" the woman asked with a light Spanish accent. "My name is Elena Alfaro, and this is my brother, Sebastian. We represent a young company, Ivory Innovations."

So, they were siblings. Evidently, she needed to have a word with her secretary about assumptions.

"Delightful to meet you. Would you care to sit?" She gestured to comfortable chairs in front of her desk before she situated herself behind it. Once they were settled she rested her hands in an open gesture before starting. "Now what can I help you with?"

"Ivory Innovations is a company that seeks to create new products to ease the lives of the wizarding world. You, Ms. Mirkwood are a muggleborn, correct?" Sebastian asked smoothly.

Elizabeth stiffened, reminding herself to stay pleasant. "Yes I am. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all, in fact that is why we are here, rather than somewhere else. I presume that you have been keeping up to date with muggle innovations and are aware of the rise in the use of muggle technology?" at her nod Sebastian continued. "Well, we have also been keeping an eye on our non-magical cousins and have found a wealth of ideas for things that can be applied to the wizarding world. To that end, our clients, the ones behind Ivory Innovations, have investigated the capabilities of muggle technology and found much room for improvement. I assume that you have used an electronic calculator? Well, using some complex arithmetic calculations and a miniature rune network, we have created a processing system that mimics many functions of a muggle calculator and has a computer algebra system which allows it to manipulate mathematical expressions in a way similar to the traditional manual computations. It has a user interface allowing to enter and display mathematical formulas, a programming language and an interpreter, since the result of a computation has commonly an unpredictable form and an unpredictable size; therefore user intervention is frequently needed, a simplifier, which is a rewrite system for simplifying mathematics formulas, a memory manager, including a garbage collector, needed by the huge size of the intermediate data, which may appear during a computation, an arbitrary-precision arithmetic, needed by the huge size of the integers that may occur, and a large library of mathematical algorithms. It will be incredibly useful for arithmancers and our goal is to promote it to the arithmetical society.

Elizabeth thought she followed all of that, despite not being as familiar with arithmancy as she might like. "That sounds like it would be an incredible product, and I assume that you are coming to me to establish a patent for it?"

"Among other things," Elena inclined her head.

"And what would those be?" Elizabeth asked. "I am licensed in wizarding world patents, and if you have more products I would be more than happy to help you with them."

"You are also licensed in the muggle world, are you not? So you have familiarity with the system in both worlds?"

"I do," Elizabeth agreed, wondering where this was going. These two had popped up out of nowhere, obviously foreigners, and yet they had showed her something that would revolutionize an entire field of magic before switching to ask about her _muggle_ credentials of all things.

"Well, we would like to manage a series of investments in the muggle world, and would feel more comfortable having a magical lawyer do so rather than the goblins, because that way we can keep all of our investments and projects 'in house' as it were." Sebastian explained.

"You are looking to become long-term clients?" Elizabeth clarified.

"Yes," Elena replied with a smile. "We have seen some of the work that your practice has done, and you personally have an impeccable record, and have risen quite high for someone your age. Added that you are a verified practitioner in both worlds, as well as versed in multiple subjects we cannot think of anyone we'd rather work with."

Elizabeth was astonished. _She_ knew she was qualified, but as a muggleborn, even one married to a pureblood, she hadn't many opportunities in the world, and had gripped them hard where she could. In the muggle world, she had faced similar problems as a woman – her mother had often told her that if she ever wanted to make it far she had to work twice as hard to get half the recognition. She had issues with that, but nevertheless it appeared to be true.

"Well then, I don't have any more clients this afternoon, though I would let to get some private filing done, so if you don't have anything I'm willing to iron out the details hours?" Elizabeth offered, and Elena beamed in response.

"We'd like nothing more."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] _I can speak French, it's dad who can't speak French, don't look at me._ (Thanks to my girlfriend cyborg_goddess for help with the translation!)
> 
> Thanks to everyone who has supported my story! I hope that you have enjoyed the update. Just as a reminder to all of you lovely readers - we authors ADORE reviews, and want to know what you think. Feedback is the #1 thing that improves my writing, and I want to hear from you! I want to know what you think of my trio, their faults, their accomplishments, their praises and criticisms. I'm not going to withhold chapters for want of reviews but I promise that quality improves when I know what you want!
> 
> Fic Recommendation: _The 9th Floor_ by angelholme on AO3. It's a series that is basically West Wing-type political drama in the Wizarding world. I highly recommend!


	4. Chapter Three: Arrangements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT 12-09-2017!!! In my haste to get this chapter out I forgot a scene, which is now inserted between the penultimate and final scenes of this chapter. You WILL be confused at some point in the future if you don’t re-read.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I am obnoxiously American. I have been England exactly once and I was only there for about 48 hours. Also, geography was my worst subject in school and all my research is via bing and google.
> 
> This chapter is brought to you by: My desperation for this semester to be over
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks to my girlfriend, cyborg-goddess for beta reading this story!
> 
>  
> 
> A/N: Sorry for the late update, this semester is a rollercoaster and I got hit with commitments a là freight train. It’s a bit short, but this chapter was particularly hard to write as it introduces a new/old character that was difficult for me to nail down the scene for. That and senior year + 4 classes + 2 jobs + 1 thesis = little to no time for fanfic. Thanks for everyone who is sticking around and likes my favorite trio as much as I do. Now on with the show!
> 
>  

**Chapter 3: Arrangements**

"You did all this in two weeks?" Hermione asked with disbelief.

"Nice to know you have so much faith in us," Harry pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning against. "So, what do you think?"

Hermione did a slow circle around the room. It had looked small from the outside, but space expansion charms had fixed that. The room was littered with comfy chairs and small tables, and the expansion had created a circular room, which was lined with shelving, one half being books and the other various food items. The back of the room had two registers, one above a glass case that boasted various pastries, and the other a case filled with a mixture of calculators and notebooks. Behind the registers was a giant board that listed menu items in swirling gold lettering.

"It's beautiful. When do we open? Do we have employees yet?" Hermione hummed as she walked over to the shelves and randomly pulled out a book. She raised her eyebrows upon realizing that another copy of the same book had replaced it.

"We put in an ad with the Prophet, and Luna and I will be interviewing the six candidates who applied" Harry yawned "tomorrow." Massaging his temples, he flopped down into one of the nearby armchairs. "If all goes well, we should open by Saturday."

"That's only three days, what if the candidates are all rubbish?" Hermione noted distractedly.

"We don't go back to school until September, and I'm sure we'll find someone by then," Luna said dreamily as she walked in from the back room.

"Luna!" Hermione tossed the book on a chair and was hugging her wife so quickly that Harry suspected she may have apparated. "I've missed you."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be here when you came earlier. I was meeting with Elizabeth about the book publishing rights, or rather Elena was, on behalf of a certain boy wizard, who she wants to meet by the way" Luna looked pointedly at Harry, who grimaced.

"Do I have to?"

Luna gave him a look that was somehow both unfocused and penetrating before he sighed. "Fine, fine, we can set up an appointment with her."

"Good, go get dressed because your meeting is in twenty minutes. I told Elizabeth that she could have a quick lunch break before we brought you over. That and my aging potion was going to wear off." Luna gave a wide smile as Harry begrudgingly took his trunk out of him pocket and resized it before climbing down. Pulling Hermione with her behind the counter she excitedly showed her the back room, which included a kitchen, that had a back door leading to a small garden.

"I don't remember having a garden being in the plans?" Hermione wandered over to a small apple tree and examined the fruit. "This tree is blooming out of season."

"It’s magic my love," Luna teased, and Hermione flushed, her light brown cheeks gaining a slightly pink tint.

"Even after all these years, my muggleborn still shows."

"Hey, that's not a bad thing. Do you want to see the apartments and meeting rooms upstairs?"

 

AToT AToT AToT

 

“Mr. Potter, it’s absolutely delightful to meet you.” Elizabeth shook Harry’s hand before gesturing to a seat. He took her hand shyly before sending a nervous look to Elena, who nodded at him reassuringly.

“It’s nice to meet you as well Ms. Mirkwood. And just Harry is fine.” He took to the chair, shifting awkwardly before finally settling in.

“Please, feel free to call me Elizabeth,” she smiled at him, noticing that he was much smaller than she would have expected. “Elena has told me a bit about your situation, but would you like to share it from your perspective?”

Harry took a deep breath before starting in on the story of his life. The more he talked the wider Elizabeth’s eyes got, until he finally admitted that he had run away from his aunt and uncle.

“… and so when Hermione called me, suggesting that I come meet her and Luna at the Leaky I thought, well a day out might not be so bad, but Aunt Petunia seemed really angry that I had been on the phone and so when I got back up to my room to pack my rucksack all I could think of was how much I hated them and how much they hated me, so I ended up just packing up my whole trunk, and then I realized I how no way to carry it but – ” Harry hesitated before continuing “I ended up using accidental magic and next think I knew my trunk was shrunk down to be tiny. So I put it in my pocket and ran downstairs. I realized that I didn’t have any money to take the tube, and I had shrunk my trunk with all my sickles and knuts and so I couldn’t take the Knight Bus so I –” Here he hesitated again before Elena put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“It’s okay, Harry, you can trust her.”

Harry took a deep breath before starting again. “I took some money out of Aunt Petunia’s purse. I know it was wrong, but I just couldn’t stay there anymore.” Harry burst into tears and Elena kneeled down before pulling him into a hug and rubbing soothing circles into his back.

“You’re okay Harry, you’re safe, shh, it’s okay, it’s okay, you’re not in trouble. You don’t have to go back, I promise.”

Elizabeth was shocked. She was a patent lawyer, dealt with copyrights and business, not the custody of children. Of course, she did know the basics, but it wasn’t her specialty.

“Harry, where have you been staying since this happened?” She asked gently.

“With my friend Luna. We started talking a bit last year. Everyone hated me because they thought I was the heir of Slytherin, and people bully Luna a lot because they think she’s weird, but I really like her, and she’s my best friend aside from Hermione. Ron doesn’t really like her though, and so when we hang out he’s usually not there. We didn’t tell anyone that we were friends other than Hermione, because we both had bad reputations in school, and didn’t want it to be worse for each other. But I’ve been staying with her and Uncle Xeno for the summer and they’re great! I have food, and my own bedroom, and I can take long showers if I want, or even a bath. And Uncle Xeno never yells at me, _and_ I get to eat with him and Luna at meals, which I don’t even have to cook myself! It’s even better than Hogwarts.” Harry’s words came out rapidly and he was nodding so much that Elizabeth thought his head might fall off.

“I’m glad that you are in a better place now Harry,” Elizabeth smiled at him gently.

“I believe we have got slightly off topic,” Elena interrupted, not unkindly. “We, that is to say Sebastian, Xeno and I, have things in motion to permanently change Harry’s living arrangements, which if we do need your help we will certainly let you in on. However, what we are here for today is to discuss the matter of copyright? Specifically, the fictionalization of Harry’s life, which you can, having heard Harry’s side of things, confirm is blatantly false, and he has received no royalties or given permission of any kind for.”

Elizabeth shook herself, and decided to compartmentalize, pushing back her emotions about Harry’s home life to focus on what they could do for him now. “I suppose that you want me to reach out to the publishers with our concerns?” She started shuffling around papers and began to make notes.

“I think a retraction and a healthy portion of royalties are in order.”

“We’ll see what we can do.”

 

AToT AToT AToT

 

Mary Elizabeth Cattermole was running late. Reg was supposed to take the kids to day care, but then he got called into work early and she had to take them, even though she had the interview. An _interview_. Mary hadn’t held a job since before the twins were born, and although she loved her children, she was eager to do something that involved interactions with people who weren’t small children or their parents. Alfie was about to start year 1 and she didn’t know what she was going to do with herself. Hence, looking for a new job, her first since working summers at her parent’s grocery.

And now she was late.

Mary did a final check that her new robes she had gotten for the interview were in place and that she had remembered to turn off all appliances before there was a loud crack and she was transported from her kitchen to the apparition point in Diagon Alley. Doing her best to walk quickly but not run, she soon found herself slightly out of breath and in front of the newly constructed Tenth Muse shopfront, the name appearing above the shop window in a glittering gold. Taking a deep breath to compose herself, she opened the door that she had been told would be unlocked and let herself into the shop. It was quite cozy, and she could easily imagine spending her days working behind one of the counters or even just sitting down and reading a book.

The person currently behind the counter was a tall man with dark hair. He was bent over a pile of papers and appeared quite distracted.

“One moment please,” he told her, preempting the apology she was about to make. She stood there awkwardly for another minute or so before he finally looked up.

“Thank you for being patient …” he trailed off as he looked up and caught her eye. For a split second he looked like he had seen a ghost, but the expression went away so quickly she decided she had imagined it. His face had turned into a broad smile. “You must be Mrs. Cattermole.”

“Yes, and you are Mr. Alfaro?” at his nod she continued. “It is so nice to meet you. I greatly appreciate this opportunity.”

“Of course, of course, would you care for some tea? If nothing else it will allow you to see our brewing equipment.” He gestured for her to join him behind the counter.

She followed him hesitantly. She hadn’t ever really had an interview before, and so could not tell whether this was irregular. She was surprised to notice that the set up was much like what she had at her parent’s shop, and wished she could’ve had in her own home.

“Ah yes, you’re muggleborn, correct?”

Mary stiffened slightly and stopped her examination of the brewing instruments. They looked quite muggle in design, so he obviously had some muggle ties, but as a perpetual newcomer she had never stopped being wary of that question.

“I thought you were. It’s easy to spot another muggle-raised in these parts. My sister and I were born here in London. Our mother is a muggle from Kent, and our father is a muggleborn from Spain. He fled from Franco’s regime and settled in London, living as a muggle, which is where she met our mother. We were five when Franco died, and six when we moved back to our father’s homeland. Father was not exactly fond of Hogwarts, and wanted us to attend the Beauxbatons as he did, so he and mother moved back to Logroño, the two of us in tow. Neither of us spoke much Spanish or French at the time, but now our English has become slightly accented. But you are not here to ask about my family history no?”

Mary blinked as she was taken away from the young man’s narrative and found herself sitting in one of the armchairs with a hot cup of Earl Grey. “Oh, but it is all very interesting! Your muggle roots have influenced the shop, I take it?” She took a sip of her tea and was pleasantly surprised at the hint of lavender.

This launched them into a discussion that took up most of the hour they had set aside for the interview, and before Mary knew it she was done with her tea and had gained a new friend in Sebastian, as he insisted he be called. With the promise of an owl regarding her status as an accepted employee within the day (“I highly doubt we will find someone more qualified”) she left the shop elated at her success, and decided to pick up her children early to treat them all to ice cream and a trip to the cinema. Today was a good day.

 

AToT AToT AToT

 

Harry sagged into the armchair after his pending-further-interviews-but-probable-future-employee left.

Mary Elizabeth Cattermole.

There was a time when that name had been burned into his mind, and the time travel was no doubt to blame for his having forgotten about her. When they escaped the ministry after retrieving the locket he had hoped beyond hope that she had escaped. She was a symbol in his psyche of what they had been fighting for. After the war ended, or after they thought the war had ended, she had come to thank him personally, saying that he had helped buy her and her family time to escape to France for the duration of the war. Her children had gotten enrolled at Beauxbatons, but she and Reg had decided to pick up their lives again in Britain.

It was only years later, as he was looking through the newspaper that Draco had dropped off with him that he saw, tucked into a small corner on page 5 of the Prophet that she had been sentenced to Azkaban for treason. After months of wheedling Draco and Draco’s subsequent snooping he got his hands on a transcript of the trial. It was the Muggleborn Registration Commission all over again, and it was with anger that Harry saw Umbridge’s name as prosecutor. When Harry thought about it, he realized that Mary Elizabeth Cattermole was one of his biggest reasons why he had wanted to come back to the past.

He would not fail her again.

 

AToT AToT AToT

 

Harry wasn’t at the shop opening. Instead he was pacing back and forth in his office above said shop and running his fingers through his hair, which had been straightened so that he could be ‘Sebastian’ and yet was so thoroughly ruffled he looked like a Potter again. As he made his way across the carpet in a path whose establishment bordered on impressive in terms of the time scale Harry ran into a distraction in the form of Crookshanks.

Literally ran into. Crookshanks had managed to trip him so thoroughly that Harry had not only fallen over, but also been spun in a circle until he finally ended up sideways in an armchair meant for guests, the water from a smashed vase soaking into the carpet as the limp flowers it had contained lay among the broken crystals.

Harry let out a short and frustrated scream before he heard the sound of a clearing throat from the open doorway.

“You alright there boss?” David Fisher, a muggleborn Hufflepuff straight out of Hogwarts, and their man behind the counter, was wiping his hands on a towel.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Harry sighed and spelled the flowers back into their vase, casting a quick _aguamenti_ to replace the lost water.

“We’ve got a few different people wandering in, asking questions. One woman in particular was asking to speak to a manager. Do you have the time?” The man sounded too apprehensive for Harry’s liking. He didn’t want employees to be afraid of him or temper outbursts. Pushing stray thoughts about rats out of his mind Harry forced on a smile that, based on David’s face, he had made an approximately genuine one.

“Of course, lead the way my good man.”

 

AToT AToT AToT

 

Harry yawned as he settled into Luna's bed. She was already asleep, long blonde hair fanned out on the pillow. Harry sighed, and with a slight wave of his hand the hair was braided. If he allowed her to sleep like that her hair would resemble the bird's nest he called hair, and that would be a disaster, for him at least. Luna would be fine with it, but Harry was the one who would have to brush it out for her.

As he stretched, Harry thought over the past week. He was pleased with how things were developing. Tomorrow would make it a full week of having the shop open, and it was getting off to a good start, even with people in the alley being wary of Sirius Black's daring escape from Azkaban. Then again, the public always liked a distraction.

Harry held off another yawn and looked again at the Daily Prophet article relating to the escape, and was hit with the pain that this was not _his_ Sirius.

Harry reminded himself of the conversation he had with Luna, Harry refocused. His Sirius Black, the one who bought him a firebolt while on the run and eating rats, who sent him letters using toucans, who told him that the world was not made up of good people and death eaters, who sang _God rest ye merry hippogriffs_ and decorated decapitated elf heads with Santa hats, _that_ Sirius had died over a decade ago. Maybe this Sirius Black would do none of those things. Maybe he would do all of them. But either way, the man currently breathing fresh air for the first time in twelve years was _not_ the Sirius that died before his godson's sixteenth birthday. That Sirius had _been_ mourned, and this new Sirius, no matter what he may become, was not the same man. While Harry missed _his_ Sirius, it wasn't fair of him to not give this Sirius a chance.

After a thorough discussion, the three friends had agreed to let Sirius come to them. They would wait until the school year, when it was confirmed that he had reached Hogwarts before they confronted him. Ideally, they would intercept his attack on the Fat Lady, but they knew that in all likely hood things wouldn't happen that way twice, with all that they had already changed. Fate didn't like them quite that much.

Harry was startled from his musing by a tapping at the window. For a moment he was confused about the late hour, before he realized that it was midnight exactly. His birthday. Getting up to open the window he tripped over what was now a hissing Crookshanks, and apologized to the grumpy creature, who jumped onto the bed and started kneading the blanket that covered Luna's sleeping form.

Finally managing to open the surprisingly complicated window, Harry let in two owls, one of which was the aging Errol, who was nearly unconsciously. Harry immediately relieved of his package and placed the old owl in Hedwig's perch area, Errol opened one bleary eye, gave a feeble hoot of thanks, and began to gulp some water. Harry recognized the second owl as a tawny one from Hogwarts, as along with his parcel he carried a letter with the Hogwarts seal. He took the package from this owl as well, placing it on the bed next to Errol's, and gestured over to where the older owl was now sleeping, Hedwig looking at Errol with something that Harry assumed would look like concern on a human face. The tawny owl glided over to the perch, taking a small amount of water, and accepting an owl treat from Harry before it flew off through the still-open window. After giving Hedwig two owl treats to make up for his attention to a bird that was not her, Harry settled down on the edge of the bed.

Grabbing Errol's package first, Harry ripped off the brown paper and discovered a present wrapped in gold, and what he remembered to be his first ever birthday card. As he opened the envelope, two pieces of paper fell out – a letter and a newspaper cutting. Though he had already read the article in his own copy of the Prophet early that week, Harry gave it a cursory glance anyway.

**MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE**

_Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. A delighted Mr. Weasley told the Daily Prophet, "We will be spending the gold on a summer holiday in Egypt, where our eldest son, Bill, works as a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank." The Weasley family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley children currently attend._

Harry scanned the moving photograph, and a grin spread across his face as he saw all nine of the Weasleys waving furiously at him, standing in front of a large pyramid. He scowled at Wormtail resting on Ron's shoulder, and smiled at the way he had his arm around Ginny. Aside from Hermione and Luna, those two and Neville were Harry's best friends. His smile fell as he remembered why he was using past tense. Still, her knew that he had to give these two the same chance he was giving Sirius, a chance to be perhaps not his Ron and Ginny, but at least a version of them. Groaning, he realized that this Ginny would be one who still held a strong crush.

He looked away from the newspaper cutting to the letter that Ron had sent.

_Dear Harry,_

_Happy birthday!_

_Look, I'm really sorry about that telephone call. I hope the Muggles didn't give you a hard time. I asked Dad, and he reckons I shouldn't have shouted._

_It's brilliant here in Egypt. Bill's taken us round all the tombs and you wouldn't believe the curses those old Egyptian wizards put on them. Mum wouldn't let Ginny come in the last one. There were all these mutant skeletons in there, of Muggles who'd broken in and grown extra heads and stuff._

_I couldn't believe it when Dad won the Daily Prophet Draw. Seven hundred galleons! Most of it's gone on this holiday, but they're going to buy me a new wand for next year._

_We'll be back about a week before term starts and we'll be going up to London to get my wand and our new books. Any chance of meeting you there?_

_Don't let the Muggles get you down!_

_Try and come to London,_

_Ron_

_PS: Percy's Head Boy. He got the letter last week._

Harry unwrapped the present, finding his old pocket sneakoscope, wishing he had paid more attention to it his original third year. Harry had learned patience, and grown into his own man, but there was something about Pettigrew that still made him on edge. He frowned at himself, surprised at how angry he was, before deciding it was just his teenage hormones and letting himself refocus on his friend. He put the present and letter on Luna's bedside table, and brought his attention to the mail brought by the tawny owl.

Warily he stared at the second package, knowing what it was he ripped the paper off in one go, and quickly stroked the spine before the book could do more than nip his fingers. He opened to a random page, which turned out to be about hippogriffs. He scowled, thinking of Buckbeak and how much he wished he could have the old Draco back, or rather the future Draco, since he now had the old Draco, and now he was giving himself a headache, which really was no way to start his first day of being 13 for a second time. He conjured a rope and gently wrapped the book in the soft material. He didn't want to hurt it, but he also didn't want it to come alive again and eat all of his other books. For one thing, Hermione would kill him, if the book didn't do so first.

Smiling again upon seeing Hagrid's messy scrawl Harry set that letter aside to read McGonagall's. He didn't particularly care about whether or not he went to Hogsmeade on an official basis – while it would be nice to see the village again, he knew it like the back of his hand now, and an empty castle was much more useful for his purposes. He set all the letters he had collected in his lap aside, with Ron's and placed the book on top of his trunk. He would add it to the library later.

Harry yawned again as he crawled under the covers, and bit back a laugh as Luna promptly rolled over in her sleep to begin using him as a pillow. Removing the glass from his face, Harry drifted off to sleep, glad, once again, that it was his birthday

 

AToT AToT AToT

 

It wasn’t that Hermione disliked France. But between stress over not being able to help Harry and Luna as much as she wanted to, anxiety over not finishing their goals before September first, and the fact that she has seen this all before down to the last dotted _i_ and crossed _t_ of their itinerary, France was not exactly agreeing with her. So when she was finally back on her side of the channel and her parents were safely in their own bed for the first time in weeks, she jumped into her trunk and flooed over to Luna’s.

The blonde was lying on her bright yellow bedspread, flipping through a catalogue. To anyone else, she was looking at it with wide-eyed mild interest, but Hermione could tell that she was waiting for something, and when Luna’s face broke out into a smile upon their eyes meeting Hermione realized that it was herself that Luna had been waiting on.

“You’re back!” Luna rolled off the bed and flung her arms around Hermione before pulling her down into the newest addition to the room, a large corner hammock.

“I should have known to give you one of these in the first place,” Hermione mused. “They really are so comfy.” Luna beamed before kissing Hermione on the cheek.

“I missed you,” Luna settled her head on Hermione’s chest.

“I missed you too.” Hermione murmured. “Mirror calls really aren’t the same, and with only one visit in four weeks we missed a _lot_ of cuddle time.”

“Cuddles are the best.”

The two lay in comfortable silence for a time, and Hermione was almost asleep when Luna squirmed out of the hammock.

“Where are you” she yawned “going?”

“I have to pee, and last time I checked you weren’t a fan of wizard-style excrement disposal.”

Hermione snorted, slowly becoming more awake. “I think everyone was a lot happier when muggles invented plumbing and wizards stopped shitting themselves and vanishing the mess.”

Luna laughed before shutting herself in the loo, and Hermione stretched before wandering over to look at the catalogue that Luna had been perusing earlier. Her eyebrow raised at the contents.

“Something you want to tell me love?” she asked when Luna came back a couple minutes later.

“Ah, yes the catalogue.” Luna nodded. “We received a surprising amount of inquiries going into week two about whether or not we had certain adult products by a few frustrated muggleborns, and Harry and I decided to branch out.” Luna took the catalogue back and started organizing it with other papers on her desk. “Naturally we have to establish the norms based on what the muggles have already done before we can adapt it. Of course much of it you and I experimented with anyway in the future-that-was, but there is much more that can be done with other bodily configurations.”

“Did they ask you or Harry?” Hermione leaned back on the slightly outrageous nest of throw pillows met the corner of the wall.

“Actually, the first one asked Gabriel, a recent ‘claw graduate, who took very detailed notes, including the woman’s new phone number, per her request. He was red as a tomato by the end of it all, but still managed to bring it all to me with a straight face, excluding the phone number of course.” Luna hummed as she finished with her papers before joining Hermione on the bed. “Are you staying here tonight?”

“Sure. I told my parents about my trunk, and warned them that I would probably visit you tonight, so it should be fine. If they enter my room the alarm will wake me up with enough time to floo back and see what they want.” Hermione pulled Luna closer to herself, lest they lose each other amongst the pillows.

“Don’t they have an objection to their daughter sleeping with her girlfriend?” Luna yawned.

“You know, I thought they might, but my mum said it was a sign of trust that I told them at all, and we’re so young – at least as far as they know – that she doesn’t see us doing anything. My dad just said that as long as we don’t get each other pregnant he doesn’t really care.” Hermione yawned. “Damn those things are contagious. Sleep?”

“Sleep.”

Luna nuzzled into Hermione’s chest again as she whispered _nox._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N 2: Thanks again to everyone who is sticking with this story! I am going to try to update this about once a month, and over winter break I’ll go on a writing spree so that I can try and still release them regularly once second semester takes me over. 
> 
> A/N 3: I feel the need to clarify the whole excrement joke thing, since it's been pointed out to me a couple times now. This isn't something I made up, it's a nod to Potter more canon. Check out the Pottermore page on the Chamber of secrets, paragraph 6 if you don't believe me.
> 
> A/N 4: Special disclaimer for this chapter: The letter and newspaper cutting are taken near verbatim from _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ chapter one _Owl Post_ , which I think you’ll be able to tell heavily influenced the added scene.  
>  
> 
> Fic recommendation: _The Great Pixie Dust-Up_ by Mundungus42. It’s on FFN and AO3, same username and title on both. Summary and beginning notes from AO3:
> 
> Summary: Severus Snape, whose magical equivalent of general relativity has revolutionized spell casting, is content to ignore the larger ramifications of his work until circumstances conspire to bring it to his attention.
> 
> Notes: Written for chantefable for the 2010 Snuna Exchange on LiveJournal and inspired by two of the recipient's prompts: 1) Steampunk: technological revolution has hit the wizarding world, but all the technology is very magical. 2) Pixies! Pixie smuggling, research, collecting... International Pixie scandal. Pixie conspiracy. Pixies as a decoration/diversion/weapon... and consequences thereof.
> 
> This fic is complete gold and I highly recommend. I know that the pairing isn’t for everyone, and usually I wouldn’t read Snuna, but this one almost convinced me. That said, it’s actually really light on the romance and high on the humor. My girlfriend cyborg-goddess liked it, so there’s a second opinion for you.


	5. Chapter Four: Greetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I am obnoxiously American. I have been England exactly once and I was only there for about 48 hours. Also, geography was my worst subject in school and all my research is via bing and google. Some of the text in this chapter was copied directly from _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ and _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_ because I couldn't resist poking at the Weasley family dynamic. Several Wikipedia articles about Chess we also heavily used, because I suck at chess. I tried my best to use British English when I noticed, but to be honest my girlfriend and I are both American, so we do our best, but sometimes fall short.
> 
> A/N: Happy 2018! If you have not already done so please go and **read the penultimate scene of chapter 3.** I left out an important bit and accidentally caused a continuity error because my brain got overloaded with research papers. Also **check out my oneshot** _ **Celestial Messengers**_ **which is in this universe**. It's about how Hermione and Luna got together and it's real cute. I'm trying to move things along at a bit of a faster pace now that we're finally getting into the school year and the trio start interacting with their "peers." An additional note regarding Ginny  & Ron, my interpretation of them is friendlier than in canon; that is to say, Ron doesn't push her away as much, and is being extra protective of her since the Chamber incident. So she's included much more in my friendship dynamic than she was in the original books.
> 
> This chapter is brought to you by: My escape from Azkaban *cough* campus housing *cough*
> 
> Thanks to my girlfriend, cyborg-goddess for beta reading this story!

**Chapter 4: Greetings**

Harry, Hermione, and Luna were sitting outside Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour, happily digging into identical vanilla orange crème cinnamon butterscotch swirl ice cream sundaes when they spotted a familiar group of red heads.

"Ron! Ginny!" Hermione called. The two looked around confused before she stood up and started waving. Recognition in their eyes, the two split off from where their mother was distracted by scolding the twins for spelling Percy's badge again.

"Hey Hermione! How was France?" Ron asked as he approached, flushing red when she gave him an enthusiastic hug.

"Fantastic!" she beamed. "How was Egypt?"

"It was great! I don't think it quite agreed with Scabbers though, he's looking pretty sick. I'm thinking of taking him to the magical menagerie, just to get him checked out so maybe he'll perk up a bit."

Harry fought back the urge to visibly react to seeing the traitor. Remembering the horror of watching the man strangle himself to death, he was relieved when Ginny cut through his concentration.

"Luna, I didn't know you knew Harry and Hermione."

"Well it's a simple story isn't it? Most everyone blamed Harry for last year, and no one really wanted to be friends with me already, so neither of us really wanted to further our bad reputations," Luna shrugged. Ginny's face fell, and Hermione gave Luna a rather annoyed look that screamed "filter". Luna gave her one back that was a mixture of "sorry" and "you know I don't have one". Hermione raised a "you're an adult and she's twelve" eyebrow and Luna sighed and turned to Ginny more directly.

"It's not your fault. Voldemort–" Ron and Ginny both gasped and Harry and Hermione both rolled their eyes "was dramatically more powerful than you, even at 16, and I haven't been the best friend to you either since mum died. I'm afraid I let wrackspurts cloud my vision for an unreasonable amount of time." she told her matter-of-factly.

Ginny gave a pleased, if slightly uneasy smile, and pulled Luna into a hug.

"I have missed you Luna. How has your summer been?"

"Quite good actually. It's a shame that you only just got back; Harry has actually been staying with us for the past month or so."

"I came this close" Harry 's forefinger and thumb were almost touching "to punching Dudley in the face, and in a physical fight I can't win against him. Can't do magic outside of school, so I hopped onto the bus and went to the Leaky. Luna was there having a breakfast out with her dad and they offered me a roof under which I don't have to deal with my uncle's sister visiting."

"Sorry mate, if we'd known I could've asked Mum and Dad if you could come to Egypt with us. I think you'd really like Bill." Ron clapped his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"It's okay, Luna and I had a good time this summer. She taught me how to swim in the river by her house. And it was away from the Dursleys, so it's good in my book." Harry laughed. "Say, do either of you want ice cream? My treat. It was your birthday earlier this month, right Ginny?"

The younger redhead blushed as Harry turned his direct attention on her and nodded.

Harry took his coin purse out of his hand and tossed Ron a few sickles. "That should cover sundaes for both of you I think."

"Thanks, mate. We'll be right back."

Hermione went to the next table over to snag two extra chairs for Ron and Ginny, and a few minutes later the pair had returned. Ron was in the middle of telling a story about a skeleton that they saw with three heads in the tomb that Ginny wasn't allowed in - something she inserted complaints about every time he paused for a breath - when their mother appeared.

"There you are! I turned around and you were gone. Warn me the next time you wander off, please?"

"Sorry, mum." Hermione stifled a laugh at the tone of practiced recitation; it was quite obvious that this wasn't the first, or the last time they would be saying those words.

"Very well." Molly pursed her lips before turning to the trio, and noticing Luna. "Is that you little Luna? Why, you've grown almost a foot since I last saw you. I didn't realize you knew Harry and Hermione."

"Mhmm, yes, we met last year actually, when I was avoiding the nargles who had stolen my shoes, and Hermione transfigured temporary replacements for me," Luna told her dreamily, before taking another spoonful of ice cream. Molly's smile became a little fixed, out of distaste for the thieves who had been hiding Luna's possessions from her, or the use of one of her creatures to explain the theft away, Harry wasn't sure.

"Well, that's nice that you made friends, dear. Now, have all of you gotten your supplies yet? Ron, we still have to get your new wand, and your books for your electives."

"We got our books last week actually. I think Harry has to buy a few more though, I want my runes textbook back" Hermione replied, shooting Harry a sly look.

"Runes, mate? You're not adding another elective, are you?" Ron groaned.

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, though I might end up dropping Divination. I read through the textbook and it looks a bit rubbish, easy O or no. If you still want to take it though, don't bother buying the book, I can just give you mine."

"That's kind of you, dear," Molly smiled. "Now, once you've finished your ice cream – it looks like you're pretty much done already – come meet me at that new shop that just opened up while we were away."

"You mean Tenth Muse?" Hermione asked excitedly. "We've been there several times, it's quite nice."

"What exactly is the store? I haven't gotten a chance to see what's in there yet."

"Well there's a mini-library of popular muggle books – with a few wizarding books as well, but mostly muggle fiction, and there's a bunch of gadgets that are wizarding adaptations of muggle objects – all completely legal, apparently, and–"

As Hermione continued enthusiastically Ron gave Harry a sidelong look. "You've been in there how many times?"

"Well the shop is quite interesting, and we couldn't swim all the time…" Harry trailed off at Ron's unimpressed look. "Oh come on, how was _I_ supposed to know it would become her favorite store? It was _raining,_ and Hermione and Luna are both rubbish at chess." Harry ducked a swat from Hermione, who somehow was able to keep up a steady stream of conversation with Mrs. Weasley and pay attention to Ron and Harry, proving that she was a terrific and terrifying example of multitasking.

"Well he's not wrong," Luna hummed.

Eventually Hermione ran out of steam and let Mrs. Weasley go, a little dazed, towards the store that she was now quite familiar with for someone who had never been there before.

AToT AToT AToT

After Ron got his new wand – willow, fourteen inches, unicorn hair – and Mrs. Weasley had finished examining the shop for herself, they all retired to the Leaky Cauldron to share a meal. Harry had to force himself not to stare at a George with both ears and his twin by his side, and was only pulled out of this distraction by Percy, who was in full networking mode. **He held out his hand solemnly as though he and Harry had never met,** let alone lived in constant proximity for what, to Percy at least, was going on two years, **and said, "Harry. How nice to see you."**

" **Hello, Percy," said Harry, trying not to laugh.** It was odd to see his once brother-in-arms treating him like he was meeting the minister.

' **I hope you're well?' said Percy pompously, shaking hands.** Behind him, Hermione, Ron and Ginny failed to stifle laughs, while Luna simply hummed, a small smile on her face.

" **Very well, thanks –"**

**Harry!" said Fred, elbowing Percy out of the way and bowing deeply. "Simply** _**splendid** _ **to see you, old boy –"**

" **Marvellous," said George, pushing Fred aside and seizing Harry's hand in turn. "Absolutely spiffing."**

**Percy scowled.**

' **That's enough, now,' said Mrs Weasley.**

" **Mum!" said Fred, as though he'd only just spotted her, and seized her hand, too. 'How really corking to see you –'**

" **I said, that's enough," said Mrs Weasley, depositing her shopping in an empty chair. 'Hello** again **, Harry, dear. I** forgot to tell you **our exciting news**! **' She pointed at the brand-new silver badge on Percy's chest. "Second Head Boy in the family!" she said, swelling with pride.**

" **And last," Fred muttered under his breath.**

" **I don't doubt that," said Mrs Weasley, frowning suddenly. "I notice they haven't made you two Prefects."**

" **What do we want to be Prefects for?" said George, looking revolted at the very idea. "It'd take all the fun out of life."**

Hermione frowned, and out of the corner of her eye saw that Ron's face had fallen, laughter replaced with a resigned scowl. She caught Harry's eye and made a discrete gesture towards Ron. Harry's face also fell as he remembered back to Christmas 1991.

" _ **Can you see all your family standing around you?"**_

" _ **No – I'm alone – but I'm different – I look older – and I'm Head Boy!"**_

" _ **What?"**_

" _ **I am – I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to – and I'm holding the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup – I'm Quidditch captain, too!"**_

_**Ron tore his eyes away from this splendid sight to look excitedly at Harry.** _

" _ **Do you think this mirror shows the future?"**_

" _ **How can it? My family are dead."**_

Harry nudged Ron in the shoulder. "I don't think I'd like to be Head Boy. I'd have to put myself in detention at least twice a week."

Ron scoffed "More like three."

"Ugh, and can you imagine all of that extra work? They have to go to staff meetings and make nice with Snape." Harry shook his head "Personally I'd rather spend that time preparing for NEWTs, so that I'd have more time for Quidditch and hanging out with friends before we have to become real adults and all that rot."

"Yeah, and it would mean having to pay extra attention to all the firsties. I think you have the right idea there, mate," Ron smiled, and Harry saw Luna wink at him out of the corner of her eye before turning back to her conversation with Ginny and Hermione, as the latter enthusiastically told the former about her _adorable_ new cat.

AToT AToT AToT

The next day was as chaotic as any other September first, with Harry, Hermione and Luna all having stayed at the Leaky Cauldron with the Weasleys the night before. Somehow even though they had only been there for one night, they were all still rushing to get everything packed up in time to make it to King's Cross at 11. Before Harry knew it, they were on the Hogwarts Express.

Passing by a familiar compartment, the trio exchanged quick looks before deciding to follow through with their original plan. Hermione confidently opened the door and the five of them settled in, Fred and George having long since wandered off to find their friend Lee Jordan.

"Who is that?" Ron asked, gesturing towards the sleeping man in the corner."

"Professor R. J. Lupin I suppose."

"How do you know _everything_?" Whether Ron was looking at Hermione with adoration or disgust Harry honestly did not know, but Hermione shrugged it off with a roll of her eyes.

"It's on his trunk Ron. Honestly, there are plenty of things I don't know. For instance – what is the point of the Queen's Gambit? And how did it even become popular in the first place? I don't get it, no matter how many times I've played."

"Well," Ron scratched his head as he started to explain "It can be super effective, if you do it right I mean. The Queen's Gambit is actually one of the one of the oldest known chess openings. It was mentioned in the Göttingen manuscript of 1490 and was later analysed by masters such as Gioachino Greco in the seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century, it was recommended by Phillip Stamma and sometimes it's known as known as the Aleppo Gambit in his honour. It wasn't actually that popular in the early period of modern chess, since queen pawn openings were not in fashion, and the whole thing didn't become that common until the 1873 tournament in Vienna." Ron continued to rattle off information even as Hermione pulled out a composition book to take notes. Ginny made eye contact with Harry and they both had to look away from one another to avoid snickering too obviously, though to be frank Hermione and Ron wouldn't be stopping anytime soon as Ron had just started in on an impassioned defense of the Queen's Gambit Accepted. Luna simply hummed and starting braiding Ginny's hair, while Harry opened up a copy of _The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts_ , wanting to refamiliarize himself with the third-year material.

Things continued in this relaxed manner until the train started slowing down, and Ron's animated description of why he preferred wizard's chess over the inanimate muggle variety faltered.

"We can't possibly be there yet. Why are we stopping?" Hermione made a show of looking away from some 7 pages of notes (complete with diagrams) and checking her watch.

"I dunno." Ron peered out of the window. "We've stopped on a bridge."

Harry ducked his head out of the compartment, doing his best to look as confused as everyone else, while his heart was pounding in anticipation. For all that they had been undesirables, their propensity towards staying indoors had meant that he was rusty when it came to dementors, as nothing had been able to breach their wards prior to the night the trio had escaped into the past.

"Everyone looks just as confused as we are." Harry shrugged, feigning nonchalance. **The train came to a stop with a jolt and distant thuds and bangs told them that luggage had fallen out of the racks. Then, without warning, all the lamps went out and they were plunged into total darkness.**

**"What's going on?" said Ron's voice from behind Harry.**

**"Ouch!" gasped Hermione. "Ron, that was my foot!"**

**Harry felt his way back to his seat.**

**"D'you think we've broken down?"**

**"Dunno …"**

**There was a squeaking sound, and Harry saw the dim black outline of Ron, wiping a patch clean on the window and peering out.**

**"There's something moving out there," Ron said. "I think people are coming aboard …"**

**The compartment door suddenly opened and someone fell painfully over Harry's legs.**

**"Sorry! D'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry –"**

**"Hello, Neville," said Harry, feeling around in the dark and pulling Neville up by his cloak.**

**"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?'**

**"No idea! Sit down –"**

**There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain; Neville had tried to sit on Crookshanks.**

Hermione conjured one of her bluebell flames, slipping it into a jar that Luna handed to her silently, and Harry took Crookshanks into his lap so that Neville could sit down. Boy and cat exchanged wary glances and Crookshanks hissed again, before turning his tail towards Neville and settling in to Harry's robes.

As the cold feeling drew closer Harry's instincts screamed at him to cast his patronus, but he kept himself resolute, making eye contact with Hermione, whose lips were thin, but who nevertheless gave him a subtle nod. Her eyes flickered over to Luna, who was looking unusually somber, but nevertheless gave a sad smile.

The dementor had opened the door and was about to enter when Remus Lupin finally opened his eyes, and a wispy white wolf emerged from his wand, chasing it away.

"Is everyone alright?" he looked at the assembled children, his worried eyes meeting their wide ones, and something twisted inside of Harry. He had long forgiven the man for not checking up on him as a child – Remus was a good friend of his parents, true, but he also had been only 21 at the time, wracked with grief, and suffering from a disease that saw him ostracized by the majority of the community.

Petunia was awful, and Lily had cried over her treatment by Petunia, but she also loved her sister, and did not speak about her very much to anyone but James. Petunia was also older, experienced taking care of her own child, and living in a house with a husband that had a stable job. It was no stretch to believe her to be a suitable guardian, no matter how wrong that assumption turned out to be.

Remus had explained to them that while he thought of Harry often, he had lived for many years in Canada, where they were not exactly welcoming of werewolves, but did not have the mountain of restrictions that were present in the United Kingdom. That said, when news of Sirius' escape broke, and he received Dumbledore's invitation to teach at Hogwarts, he jumped at the chance. Once he learned of Sirius' innocence and Wormtail's escape, Remus felt his first duty to be toward his old friend, and second to be working with Dumbledore against the rising dark. He rejoined the Order of the Phoenix, and fell in love with Tonks.

Harry remembered how angry he had been at Remus, for abandoning her and wanting to join them. But Luna had taken him aside and patiently explained that Tonks could take care of herself, pregnant or no, and Remus would have undoubtedly joined her again when she gave birth. He wanted to feel useful, and thought that helping them for a time would achieve that.

"Harry, mate, are you okay?"

Harry was broken out of his brooding by Ron's voice. Tearing his thoughts away from the godson he couldn't protect, Harry responded almost automatically.

"I heard my mother. She said, **'Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead –'** and then she died for me." He told them quietly. "I never remembered her voice before now."

The entire compartment was silent, and it was only broken by the sound of yelling a few compartments over, that broke everyone out of the somber mood.

"I – I better go investigate, as a professor. Please, take this chocolate, it'll help." Remus was shocked at hearing the repetition of Lily's last words, and though his first instinct was to comfort Harry, he saw that his friends were already moving to do so, and decided to act in his capacity as a professor instead, and give his help where it was most needed.

AToT AToT AToT

Back in the compartment, Luna, who had been sitting next to Harry covered his hand with hers. "The last time I saw my mother, she had created a shield. Not to protect herself, but to encase the explosion and make it an implosion. If she hadn't the house would have collapsed, and all three of us would have died." Luna rested her head on Harry's shoulder, and he intertwined his hand with hers.

"I saw Tom. Or rather I saw me," Ginny told them hollowly. "I remembered having no control over my body, killing roosters and painting the wall with their blood. It covered my hands, all of me, I never thought I'd be clean, be myself again." She started to cry, and Ron pulled her into a hug.

"I thought I'd lost you. My baby sister. I thought it was my fault, for not taking good enough care of you." Ron had always been emotional, his temper was famous, but he also had a big heart that he wore on his sleeve.

"My uncle once threw me off Blackpool pier. I thought I was going to drown, before Gran pulled me up. She yelled at uncle Algie, but I knew she was disappointed that I didn't save myself. It's why I don't swim."

Hermione, who had been silent up to this point, grasped Neville's hands with her own. "I thought I was going to die when the troll entered that bathroom, but my friends saved me. We all have our demons," Hermione looked around at all of them, "we're all friends, and we can help save each other. We can make sure that no one ever has to go through what we went through again." The six of them shared shaky smiles, and started dividing up the chocolate.

"What was that spell he used?" Ginny asked a few minutes later, as they all nibbled on their treats.

"It was the patronus charm," Hermione responded promptly. "I read about it when researching Azkaban after Sirius Black escaped. It's the only way to keep the dementors who guard it at bay. I have no idea why they were on the train, but I hope we don't run into them again."

"I say we learn that charm." Ginny declared. "I never want to feel that helpless again." Ron nodded fiercely, and Hermione, Harry and Luna shared a smile. Their friends were different, but still here.

"I'll probably be rubbish at it," Neville said miserably. "I can barely do any spells."

"Don't say things like that about yourself, Neville," Hermione took his hand again. "You're a brilliant wizard, I know you are. I've seen your essays, and in theoretical magic you're leagues above Ron and Harry."

"Oi!" Ron said around his chocolate.

"Sorry mate, but it's true." Harry shook his head. "We both did pretty awful last year after Hermione got petrified. It's why I studied so hard over the summer."

"It was helpful for me too!" Luna piped up. "Summer homework is much easier when there was someone to study with."

Ron scratched the back of his head. "I suppose studying a bit more wouldn't be so bad."

"Oh!" Hermione clapped her hands together. "We could form a study group! We'll teach ourselves the patronus charm, and then we can focus on stuff we struggle with too! It'll be perfect."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Only you could get that excited about _studying_ , Hermione."

"Personally, I'm excited too," Ginny announced. "I missed a LOT of material last year because of the diary, and I really need to get caught up. Besides, it won't be _all_ studying. I'm sure if we can get this sanctioned we can convince the kitchens to give us snacks."

"It will also make it harder for the nargles to disrupt our plans," Luna nodded wisely. Ron and Ginny rolled their eyes, and Neville looked confused. Meanwhile, Hermione and Harry looked pensive.

"Do you think that they will be a serious problem?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"I'm sure I can handle it," Luna smiled "but thank you."

"As you wish," Hermione shrugged, "I know you can take care of yourself."

"You can't seriously believe in _nargles_ Hermione. Those don't exist." Ron scoffed.

"Well until I got my Hogwarts letter, I didn't know that wizards existed. I thought unicorns weren't real. Who's to say that nargles aren't the same way?" Hermione sniffed, completely ignoring the fact that in the last timeline she had the exact attitude she was now advocating against.

"Yeah, but that's what you get for being raised muggle. Meanwhile we wizards know –"

Whatever wizards knew that the muggle-raised did not was muffled by Ginny's hand which had just been slapped across her brother's mouth.

"Please excuse the idiot. He can only go so long without being an arse," Ginny told them sweetly. Ron's face reddened and he fought himself away from his sister.

"Right, because you're so perfect –"

"Better than you little –"

"Hey!" Harry shouted, interrupting the siblings that were now both red as their hair. "Remember like ten minutes ago? When we were all talking about what great friends we are?" Both Ron and Ginny sniffed before sitting down and resolutely not looking at one another.

"Everything okay in here?" Lupin popped his head back in, and took in the tense atmosphere. Upon his arrival however, the six friends simply burst into laughter.

AToT AToT AToT

Since Harry hadn't fainted this time around, Hermione was alone when she went to McGonagall's office to acquire her Time-Turner. _This_ is what she had been looking forward to all summer. Limiting magic use to within trunks or in populated areas had been a pain and a half, but sneaking into the ministry in order to disable the trace was almost impossible without exposing their cover.

The only reason it had worked in the last timeline was because Luna had blown up the improper use of magic office while the original trio stole the locket and freed the muggleborns. True, getting the locket had been their priority, but Luna's trace was a liability they couldn't afford outside the wards of Grimmauld place, and without the records and tools housed in the office, the ministry had no way to track underage muggleborns.

Hermione could still remember the joy she had felt at discovering the world of magic, and the prospect of having that world opened only to be killed or thrown in Azkaban like the muggleborns in the Hogwarts class of 2003 was one that haunted her.

"I feel that I've grown to know you quite well, Miss Granger, and I know you can be trusted with this. I must reiterate, however, that _you cannot be seen._ And you must tell no one, agreed?" McGonagall looked at Hermione sternly, before breaking into a small smile at Hermione's earnest nod and smile.

"I won't let you down Professor." Minerva McGonagall was going to live to see the 21st century, Hermione swore it.

"Good. Time is not to be trifled with."

_Professor, you have no idea._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** I apologize that this chapter is so short, but we're finally at Hogwarts! Yay!
> 
>  **Fic Recommendation:** _Gelosaþ in Écnesse_ by Batsutousai. It's on AO3 and FFN under the same name, with the same author and is a Harry/Salazar fic where Harry gets thrown back in time at the end of GoF and has to make a life for himself in the Founders' Era. It's a solid fic, and I've re-read it more than once. Highly recommend.


	6. Interlude: A Nightly Routine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and I am obnoxiously American. I have been England exactly once and I was only there for about 48 hours. Also, geography was my worst subject in school and all my research is via bing and google. 
> 
> This is just a short snippet for all of my patient readers. Thank you for bearing with me as I tough it out through my last semester of undergrad. Thanks also to my girlfriend cyborg-goddess, for beta reading this story!

Every night in the summer of 1993, at 8:00pm on the dot, Ginny Weasley stopped whatever evening activity she had been engaged with (usually a book) and went to brush her teeth, wash her face, and use the toilet. At 8:30 she would head to her room and put on pajamas, before braiding her hair and settling in to read for another half hour. At 9:00pm she would turn off her light and lay down to sleep, but not for long. At some point between 10:30pm and 12:30am, she would inevitably wake up in a cold sweat and crawl out of bed, creep up the stairs and sneak into Ron's room. Her second-favorite brother (Bill would always be the best) would sleepily get out of bed, and the two of them would make their way down to the kitchen and make themselves tea (decaffeinated) and she would quietly tell him about whatever nightmare Tom Riddle had left for her. After about an hour they would head back upstairs to Ron's room, Ginny would use Ron as a pillow, and finally she would fall into a deep and dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fic Recommendation: So, this isn’t actually an HP fic but OMG READ IT ANYWAY because I don’t have words for how amazing World Ain't Ready by idiopathicsmile (AO3) is. It’s a Les Mis fic but tbh should probably just be a stand-alone book. It. Is. That. Good. I swear. It’s a period piece (2006) high school AU and it’s BEAUTIFUL. 
> 
> Summary from AO3: 
> 
> Enjolras presses his lips together. He already looks pained, and Grantaire hasn't even opened his mouth yet. That's got to be a record, even for them. 
> 
> "I need a favor," he says at last. 
> 
> "With what?" says Grantaire. "Ooh, are you forming a cult? Can I join? I'd be awesome at cults, I just know it." He ticks off his qualifications on his fingers. "I love chanting, I look great in robes—" 
> 
> (High school AU. Grantaire the disaffected stoner is pulled into a cause bigger than himself. Or: in which there are pretend boyfriends for great justice.)


	7. Chapter Five: Developments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter and I am obnoxiously American. I have been England exactly once and I was only there for about 48 hours. Also, geography was my worst subject in school and all my research is via bing and google. Minor snippets from _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_ below.
> 
>  **A/N:** I hope that you enjoy this chapter because it took 10 days to write the first sentence of the third paragraph, and even more time to finish the rest of this chapter besides. More notes below.
> 
> Thanks to ALL of my lovely readers, and especially to reviewers/commenters on both FFN & AO3, whose feedback and encouragement I greatly appreciate! Thanks also to my amazing fiancée (and yes, we did get engaged!), cyborg-goddess, for beta reading this story!

Hermione slipped into the great hall, just as the last student, Joel Wexler, was sorted into Hufflepuff. She tuned out Dumbledore's announcement about the dementors – if there were any serious changes Harry or Luna would tell her, but there shouldn't be any this early in the timeline – and focused on calming her racing heart. _They had it_. Hermione had objectively known that things weren't that different yet, and she also knew that it was almost a guarantee that they would acquire the time-turner once more, but the small device was what so many of their plans hinged on, an essential piece of equipment that was _very_ necessary if they wanted to continue living their double lives that they had built for themselves.

Having a time-turner was a complete game changer, and one that they desperately needed. It was one thing to tell Hermione's parents that they were at Luna's and not having to tell Xeno much of anything because he trusted them to not get into anything too dangerous but at Hogwarts the walls literally had eyes and ears in the form of portraits. Not to mention that with Sirius' escape the whole castle would be watching Harry like a hawk.

Hermione feigned nonchalance as she sat next to Harry, helping herself to a slice of turkey from the pile that had just appeared in front of her. He raised an eyebrow and her and she gave him a cheeky grin. Ron was too busy shoving potatoes in his mouth to notice, but Ginny's brow furrowed in confusion before she shrugged it off and dug into the food herself.

AToT AToT AToT

Later that night, Hermione closed her bed hangings tightly, spelling them closed, and snuck into her trunk, which she had enlarged on her four-poster bed. A dummy trunk sat at the foot of her bed, filled with typical odds and ends, mostly extra parchment and books that didn't fit on the shelves near her bed, and innocuous enough that she could leave them stumble-uponable. All the important books were kept locked up in one of the four special trunks she had enchanted at the beginning of the summer, the majority of them in her own, but some had been borrowed by Harry or Luna, and so had found temporary homes there.

Descending into her office, Hermione was pleased to see that her wife was already there, but frowned when she realized that there was someone missing. "Where's Harry?"

Luna opened her mouth to reply, but abruptly closed it when the wayward wizard fell out of the fireplace.

"Hullo loves!" he greeted them cheerfully. His face was a bright red, and there was a sparkle in his eye. Luna let out a small giggle, and Hermione sighed.

"Harry James Potter, you lightweight."

Harry snorted at her. "Hey pot, I'm kettle. Guess what? We're both black."

Luna's giggles descended into full laughter, and Hermione's tan face was tinged with pink.

"My sobriety is not the problem here. _Desintoxica_!"

"Oi! Warn a bloke would ya?" Harry rubbed his head.

"How did you get your hands on booze anyway?" Luna asked, still giggling.

"Seamus finally figured out how to turn water into rum. Certain 3rd year Gryffindors are going to be nursing some serious hangovers tomorrow." Harry stretched. "How are we doing this? Turning back here, or flooing to the shop first?"

"Shop first." Hermione replied firmly. "If we're going back the full 24 hours, I do _not_ want to be in an expanded space that was in a different place 24 hours ago. We could easily end up stuck in limbo, or inside of my bed frame, neither of which sounds appealing." Harry looked slightly ill at that prospect, and nodded fervently in agreement.

AToT AToT AToT

Mary hummed as she swished her wand and commanded shades to come down over the large windows that usually let passersby look into the shop. Settling down on an armchair, she closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.

"You doin' all right there Mary?" David, perhaps Mary's favorite among her coworkers, set down the towel he had been using to wipe down the counter and looked at her with concern.

"It's nothing Dave. I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," he replied doubtfully. "But I won't push. Just know that I'm here if you need anything."

"Thanks Dave." Mary pinched the bridge between her eyes. "Would you be okay closing up the rest of the shop yourself? I have to pick up Maise and Ellie from their primary school program."

"You have your kids in primary? Aren't they going to Hogwarts?"

"Maybe. Reg is a pureblood, so they were accepted, but I'm thinking of sending them to one of the day schools anyway, that way they can better keep up with their muggle studies. They're halfbloods, so they'd have it better than we did." Mary ran a hand through her hair and frowned when it got stuck on her curls again.

"I know what you mean," David nodded. "I was Head Boy, you know? But that barely got me an entry position at the ministry. If this job hadn't come around, I'm not sure what I would've done."

"There's a reason I became a housewitch," Mary shrugged, before standing up and going to grab her bag from behind the counter. "See you tomorrow Dave, and thanks again for closing up."

"No problem Mary, have a good one."

Mary smiled before heading out the back and using the designated employee apparition point to head home.

Upon arriving on her back porch, she walked in and made her way to the garage, and settled into her car. With her children attending a muggle primary, it was deemed prudent that they obtain one, and while Reg had been hesitant at first, he eventually discovered that he greatly enjoyed driving – so much so that he no longer considered it a chore to bring them to school in the morning or pick them up in the afternoon.

Unfortunately, he could not do so today, as he was at a meeting with other members of the magical maintenance office as they bargained with the ministry for a pay raise. While it was true that she had been bored staying at home, they also needed the money, and even though the pay for Tenth Muse employees was quite generous, the girls were being bullied at the local school, and the fees for some of the better schools in the area were not insignificant. Reg was all for pulling them out completely, not as convinced as Mary that they needed a solid muggle education, but she was not a Gryffindor for nothing, and Mary eventually got her way about keeping the kids in school. For now.

AToT AToT AToT

Luna Lovegood saw the world in a way that mystified her colleagues. There is a saying that everyone thinks differently, and in Luna's case, the saying could not possibly be any truer. Her fellow Ravenclaws were in many ways just as curious about the world, enjoyed learning for the sake of knowledge, and many sought out esoteric subjects in much the same way. The difference, in Luna's case, was her isolation. After her mother died, Luna spent most of her time alone, away from other children, with only her father to keep her company. Oh, she had plenty of books, and back issues of the Quibbler, but for the most part Luna was alone.

Upon arriving at Hogwarts as a shy first year, she didn't know how to make friends, and inadvertently offended many of her housemates. When she did speak, it was through the language of the creatures her father had taught her about, and since she had yet to understand how other people thought and acted, she made several social gaffes that saw to her becoming an outcast. Children can indeed be quite cruel, especially against things that they don't understand. As Luna grew up and into herself, she began to realize what had happened, but at that point things were too late. Cliques had formed, and social groups often have a hard time accepting outsiders.

So, Luna spent her first three years at Hogwarts years alone, with Ginny Weasley being the only person almost close enough to call a friend, though not quite. She was friendly with the younger Ravenclaws, those who started not knowing her reputation, but they often spent time with their own age groups, and by the time December rolled around, they had been warned away from her. That all ended in her fourth year, when Harry Potter and Hermione Granger came blazing into her life, inviting her to become a member of the DA. _'I liked the DA! I learned loads with you!' 'I enjoyed the meetings, too. It was like having friends.'_ Over the years, she became accustomed to that friendship, to being a part of something. When it eventually boiled down to only the three of them, everyone else dead or imprisoned, it was that friendship that kept her going, and she had forgotten about the isolation she had faced as a preteen.

All this is to say, as much as she tried to prepare herself to reunite with her housemates, she was dismayed to wake up the morning of September 2nd to find that someone had attempted to break in to her stand-in trunk. They hadn't gotten in of course; she knew better than to not secure her things, and this time around she had the spell knowledge to protect them completely. No second-year student would be able to break past her protections, and a seventh year would have just as much trouble.

Still, it was disheartening to realize. The girls had also made an attempt to enchant her bed hangings, and if she hadn't checked before leaving them she would have had honey and feathers in her hair for her trouble. As it was, the other girls did a double take when she easily dismantled the charms.

"Oh, would you look at that, Looney learned some magic!" Jessica Chambers taunted from two beds away, already prim and pressed in her Ravenclaw robes. Both Adrianne Brooks and Clarissa Crenshaw laughed, though Jamie Newton looked uncomfortable.

Despite herself, Luna felt a stab of self-consciousness and hurt. One day she would again be a confident woman in her late twenties with a wife and hopefully a much larger family than the one that she left, but today she was twelve and just wanted to cry. Nevertheless, she did her best to compose herself, and cleared her throat before peaking again.

"It is quite unfortunate." At their confused looks, she elaborated. "That is to say, the fact that the only joy you get is in making my life harder. It's a little pathetic to be honest, but what can one do? If you get all your entertainment by insulting me then who am I to deny you, but really you should get a more interesting hobby. Maybe take up knitting?" Luna mused, doing her best not to laugh at their flabbergasted expressions. "It might help keep away some of those wrackspurts clouding your head." Luna winked at Jamie, who also looked like she wanted to laugh, and, feeling much better, exited and started down the stairs to the common room with a bit more of a spring in her step.

AToT AToT AToT

"Professor, may I speak to you for a moment?" Harry had lingered after their Transfiguration lesson was over, and the only other students left were a confused Ron and a Hermione with a twinkle in her eye. After the disaster that was their first Divination lesson, Harry was more than sure that he had no desire to listen to hear his death predicted multiple times a week for three years. Luckily, his head of house was no fan of Divination either.

"Did you need something Potter?" McGonagall peered at him over her glasses. "Still worried about your impending doom?"

"Not exactly," Harry paused, wanting to come across as the right mixture of hesitant and determined. "It's only that Professor Trelawney's interest in me made the class really uncomfortable, and I was wondering if I could maybe switch to another elective? This early in the term, surely it wouldn't be too hard to get caught up?"

McGonagall gave him an appraising look. "Given what I know of your personality and that of the Divination Professor, I have to say that I am … unsurprised at your desire to switch. That said, I have to ask, what is to stop you from saying the same about the next elective you choose, Potter? _If_ I were to say that you could switch, I would not let you do so a second time."

Harry bit his lip, making sure to look as though he was deep in thought, before taking a deep breath. "Well, I _was_ looking through some of Hermione's books after she got them this summer – we went shopping together, see – and I think that of the other electives available I'd like arithmancy. I was always good at maths in primary, so it shouldn't be too much of a struggle."

McGonagall considered him for a moment before turning her attention to Ron. "What say you, Weasley? Would you also like to switch from Divination?"

Harry and Hermione, who had not been paying particular attention to Ron in favor of their Professor, turned to see the redhead being surprisingly contemplative.

"Well, I don't know. I didn't much like how Trelawney was talking about Harry, and Bill used to say how much he liked arithmancy when he came home for the summers, so could I maybe give it a try taking both, before I decide?"

McGonagall pursed her lips. "Very well, I will discuss with Professor Vector whether or not she will provisionally let the two of you in to her class for now. Pending her decision, since the two of you each only chose two initial electives I'll let you stay in both Divination and Arithmancy for the time being, as long as you both make your decision as to which one you drop by the end of the second week of term, if that is acceptable?"

The two boys nodded, and McGonagall gave them a small smile before turning to Hermione. "May I trust that you will lend them the necessary materials for now, Ms. Granger? Good, now run along, I do not think that any of you would wish to be late for lunch. I will send you a note at dinner with Professor Vector's decision so that you will know whether to attend her class tomorrow."

AToT AToT AToT

"Are you going to stay in Divination?" Ron asked Hermione as they started the walk to the Great Hall.

"I'm not sure. I do think that the subject still has merit, for all that Professor Trelawney is a bit dramatic. Are the two of you serious about dropping it?" Hermione looked at the two boys curiously.

"I know that _I_ certainly am." Harry huffed. "If the first lesson was any indication, I do _not_ want to sit through that through our OWL year. Besides, I wasn't lying when I said I was good at maths. It was my favorite class in primary. I probably could've skipped a grade if it weren't for Vernon and Petunia not wanting me to do better than their precious Dudders." Harry scowled at the memory before turning to the boy who had been his first friend. "What about you, Ron?"

"Eh, I'll try arithmancy. I wanted Divination because I heard it was an easy O, but I also never want to drink that swill that Trelawney calls tea again, let alone twice a week for the next three years," Ron shuddered, and the other two made a face.

"Yes, it does leave something to be desired. I think that next class I'll try and sneak a sweetening spell onto my cup, just to make it a bit more palatable." Hermione agreed.

AToT AToT AToT

Luna was bored. Granted, she knew that second year classes were going to be dull, but for them to be _this_ dull boarded on the painful. It was bad enough that everything here would be review for her, but the first lesson _was_ review, and something that was review for a second-year charms student was like crawling for someone who had almost finished her charms mastery before they went in to hiding. She amused herself by forgoing proper notetaking in order that she could instead philosophize on advanced uses for the charm that they were reviewing today, the levitation charm. She remembered from having taken this class before that their homework was going to be on advanced uses of the charm, and decided to skip ahead.

The issue with not paying attention, however, was that Professors tended to notice, and thus Luna was asked to stay after by a slightly disapproving Flitwick.

"Is there a problem, Professor?" Luna asked politely upon being held back.

"That was going to be my question for you actually," Flitwick looked at her not unkindly. "You weren't exactly paying attention during my class. I know that reviewing previous material isn't the most exciting of lessons, but it _is_ important because everything that we will be doing _this_ year is built on what you learned in the last."

Luna kept her signature dreamy look on her face even as she deliberated on the best way to play this interaction before coming to a decision. "I understand, Professor; that's why I did so much review over the summer. I wanted to talk to you about that, actually."

"Oh?"

"Yes. You see, I don't have very many friends in Ravenclaw, or at all really. Everyone thinks me quite strange, and my only two friends are in a different house, and a different year. I know that I can't switch houses – honestly, I wouldn't want to – but I am hoping that if I study hard enough, I can be moved into their year. Hermione already gave me all of her notes – not completed assignments, just notes – from last year, and she's promised to do the same for this one and –"

Flitwick raised a hand to halt Luna's rambling. "Ms. Lovegood, are you meaning to tell me that you intend to learn the third-year curriculum, as you take second year courses?" he asked, with no small amount of disbelief.

"... yes?"

AToT AToT AToT

In a move that would have baffled her classmates if any of them had been awake, Hermione Granger was not taking notes in class. As a matter of fact, she was not paying attention to the lecture at all. It may have appeared as though she was notetaking, given how fast her quill was moving across the parchment, but her current project had nothing to do with witch burnings in the seventeenth century. If anyone but Harry Potter or Luna Lovegood happened to look over her shoulder they would not even been able to discern what she was writing at all, since her parchment was covered in a scramble ward that hid the fact that the parchment was not parchment, but a ledger book. Upon close examination they may have noticed that her quill was a facsimile of a quill, and was not made out of a feather, but was in fact a ball-point pen in a feathered shell.

To her left Ron was using his worn copy of _A History of Magic_ as a pillow – a surprisingly good one given how softened the leather cover had gotten over the years – while Harry, on her right, was occupied with his sketch book. Hermione made a small sound of frustration that caused Harry to look up from the design he was working on while Ron continued snoring.

"What's up?" Harry asked in a low voice, discreetly flicking his wand to silently raise a muffling ward.

"We're still using too much of the Potter vault money. The Tenth Muse is doing well enough for now, but we'll need another source of income if we want to have the funding that we need to back Padfoot's trial," Hermione sighed.

"Why can't we use more of the vault money?"

"You're not of age yet in this reality, so we don't have access to everything. Besides, we accrue more interest if we leave a large sum in there. How are the designs coming?" Harry turned the sketchbook over to her and she hummed. "Not bad, do you think you'll have a full collection by mid to late October?"

Harry nodded "I think so, if Luna is able to pitch in as well. We'll need to find people who can actually make them though. I know that all of us can do the basics, but we'll need a professional."

Hermione bit her lip. "I know Molly is our best bet, but I'm worried that she will sniff us out. She knows us too well."

"So why don't we just be ourselves?" Harry suggested.

Hermione cocked her head to the side. "Elaborate?"

"Well, we could reach out as us, sending a letter with something about having this idea and asking for an adult's help making it a reality. Then we have her as a figurehead with us acting behind the scenes."

"And what if she protests about our connection with 'Elena' and 'Sebastian'?"

"If we spin it the right way, that won't matter," Harry argued.

"Fine, I'll think about it, but we'll have to talk to Luna about this. I'm sure she has her own ideas too."

"Of course. We do this as a team, after all," Harry agreed. Noticing that the period was almost over Harry flicked his wand and disabled the muffling ward just before the bell rang. After he finished packing up and Binns had drifted through the chalkboard again Harry shook Ron awake and the three headed back to the Gryffindor common room.

AToT AToT AToT

Contrary to what might be expected, the number one rule that the trio had was _not_ keeping the fact that they had time-travelled from absolutely everyone. The secret of their time travel _was_ a secret, and definitely not something that they would shout from the rooftops, but the three had admitted to one another that keeping it from everyone would at some point become close to impossible, and so they had long ago come up with a myriad of contingency plans. No, the biggest and most important rule that the they had decided on was that, with the exception of harmless surprises, there would be no secrets from one another. In a world where the only people they knew they could absolutely trust were each other, there could be no secrets between them, and while they each could and would undoubtedly take care of themself, at the end of the day, each of them would then bring their findings to one another.

It was for this reason that, despite her reservations, Luna cut straight to the chase about her conversation with Flitwick after her charms course. That Hermione's lips were pressed together was unsurprising, Harry's grin, on the other hand, was not expected. With a sigh, Hermione rummaged through her coin purse and withdrew three sickles which she begrudgingly gave to Harry.

"Couldn't you have made it through the first week?"

AToT AToT AToT

Although not unprecedented, skipping a year at Hogwarts was something that had not been done in a quarter of a century, and so the story of how Luna "Looney" Lovegood was the first in their generation to skip a year at Hogwarts spread like wildfire. Not particularly interested in the alternatively angry and envious glares of her housemates, Luna took to sitting at the Gryffindor table. Her closeness with Hermione did not go unnoticed, and led many to assume that the bookworm had taken Luna under her wing.

"Well I'm not particularly surprised," Professor Sprout commented to a nearby Professor Vector. "I know that you've only had her in a couple classes so far, but if there is anyone who could tutor someone in a year's worth of Hogwarts material in one summer it's Miss Granger."

"I have noticed that she and Mr. Potter are particularly sharp students. If I'm being honest, those students who have gone to muggle primary are always more equipped to study arithmancy. It's the standardized nature of it you see. The structure prepares students better than anything else."

"I've noticed that too," Professor Flitwick added cheerfully. "The essays I receive from students who attended a primary school are much more consistent. The magically raised students have a cultural advantage, true, and those who could afford advanced tutoring do well, but a bit of standardized tutelage would not be remiss."

This was met with nods by all of the professors within hearing range, who then proceeded to resume their meals and not dwell on it any further, as they had every other time a similar conversation had arisen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
>  **A/N:** _Desintoxica_ is the second person singular informal command conjugation of the Spanish _desintoxicar_ which, as you might have guessed means 'detoxify' or the informal 'detox'. It's basically a sobriety spell. The only language I speak with any sort of consistency outside of English is Spanish, so there will be a lot of it in this fic, if my choosing Spanish aliases wasn't a clue enough of that.
> 
> In dealing with time-turners in this fic, I have decided to go with the movie idea that you end up in the same place you were in turning it, rather than near where you were at that previous time, because it simply makes more sense to me that it would work that way.
> 
>  **Fic Recommendation:** _Lily and the Art of Being Sisyphus_ by The Carnivorous Muffin (FFN) This story is an absurdist gem, already over 310k but it feels like it's just getting started. Not in a dragging on way, more in a "so much is happening it takes a long time to get through something so engaging" way. Premise is that every time Lily dies she ends up at the train station called purgatory where she meets up with death, aka canon Harry + some millions of years. She names the horcrux in her head Wizard Lenin and chaos reigns supreme. Some call it a crack fic, but the author insists that it is absurdist, and I agree.
> 
>  **FFN Summary:** As the unwitting personification of Death, reality exists to Lily through the veil of a backstage curtain, a transient stage show performed by actors who take their roles only too seriously. But as the Girl-Who-Lived, Lily's role to play is the most important of all, and come hell or high water play it she will, regardless of how awful Wizard Lenin seems to think she is at her job.
> 
>  **Additional Author's Note:** I'm gonna get real here for a moment. I have a big family, and as I get older, so do they. In the past year I have lost an uncle and two aunts, the most recent being at the beginning of June. Graduation and starting a new job would have been enough to make me lose track of where this fic was going, but these losses have made things extra tough for me. It was a difficult summer, and now that the semester and my grad school program has started things are even harder. So, I want to say from the bottom of my heart how much I appreciate every comment, review, follow, favorite and kudos that you all have bestowed upon this fic. Thank you. ~Bell


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